The Role of Vascular Aging in Cognitive and Physical Function

描述(由申请人提供)：在整个老龄化过程中保持最佳的身体和认知健康对于最大限度地减少医疗成本以及与老龄疾病相关的发病率和死亡率至关重要。血管系统的完整性对健康衰老至关重要。与衰老相关的宏观或微循环结构和功能障碍会导致认知功能障碍和体能下降。早期生命因素，从出生到童年和青春期，可能通过血管系统的老化在成功的认知和身体衰老中发挥重要作用。在这项拟议的研究中，我们将通过招募博加卢萨心脏研究队列中的1257名参与者来研究血管老化在维持认知和身体表现方面的作用，这些参与者在儿童时期至少参加过两次心血管危险因素检查，在成年后再次参加过两次。参与者将接受认知功能测试、身体功能评估和血管风险因素检查，并对血管结构和功能进行非侵入性研究。所有个人都可以获得出生体重和儿童社会经济和风险因素数据。纵向分析将被用来研究早期生命危险因素与亚临床血管疾病标记物的关系，而线性模型将被用来研究血管危险因素和亚临床标记物在维持认知和身体功能方面的作用。这项研究提供了一个独特的机会，因为在这个混血(黑人/白人)的农村社区，所有血管疾病风险因素都是从早期到中年前瞻性收集的，允许从中年开始探索具有认知和身体功能的种族和性别关系。这项拟议的研究将把中年早期的血管风险因素和亚临床血管标记物与中年后期的认知和身体表现联系起来。在这样做的过程中，我们将确定风险因素、干预时机和干预亚群，以降低老年认知和身体衰退的发生率，并提高全国人口老龄化的成功率。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Maintaining optimal health, both physical and cognitive, throughout the aging process is critical to minimizing healthcare costs and morbidity and mortality associated with diseases of aging. The integrity of the vascular system is essential for healthy aging. Aging-related structural and functional disturbances in the macro- or microcirculation contribute the development of cognitive dysfunction and declining physical performance. Early life factors, from birth through childhood and adolescence, may play an important role in successful cognitive and physical aging via the aging of the vascular system. In the proposed study we will examine the role of vascular aging in maintenance of cognitive and physical performance by recruiting 1,257 participants in the Bogalusa Heart Study cohort who participated in cardiovascular risk factors examinations at least twice in childhood and twice again in adulthood. Participants will undergo cognitive function testing, physical function assessments and vascular risk factor examination with noninvasive studies of vascular structure and function. Birth weight and childhood socioeconomic and risk factor data is available for all individuals. Longitudinal analysis will be used to examine the relationship of early life risk factrs to subclinical vascular disease markers, while linear models will be used to examine the role of vascular risk factors and subclinical markers in maintenance of cognitive and physical function. This study represents a unique opportunity because all vascular disease risk factors have been collected prospectively from early life to middle-age in this bi-racial (black/white), rural community, allowing for exploration of race and gender relationships with cognitive and physical function from mid-life. The proposed research will link vascular risk factors across the life span and subclinical vascular markers in early middle age with cognitive and physical performance in later middle age. In doing so, we will identify risk factors, timing and subpopulations for intervention that could reduce the incidence of cognitive and physical decline in old age and improve the rate of successful aging for persons across the nation.