The Role of Vascular Aging in Cognitive and Physical Function

描述（由申请人提供）：在整个衰老过程中保持最佳的身体和认知健康对于最小化医疗保健成本和与衰老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紊乱会导致认知功能障碍和身体机能下降。早期生活因素，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。在拟议的研究中，我们将通过招募1257名Bogalusa心脏研究队列参与者来研究血管老化在维持认知和身体表现中的作用，这些参与者在儿童时期至少参加两次心血管危险因素检查，成年后再参加两次。参与者将接受认知功能测试、身体功能评估和血管危险因素检查，并进行血管结构和功能的无创研究。所有个体的出生体重和童年社会经济及风险因素数据均可获得。纵向分析将用于检查早期生命危险因素与亚临床血管疾病标志物的关系，而线性模型将用于检查血管危险因素和亚临床标志物在维持认知和身体功能中的作用。这项研究提供了一个独特的机会，因为在这个双种族（黑人/白人）的农村社区中，从早期到中年，所有血管疾病的危险因素都被前瞻性地收集了起来，从而可以探索种族和性别与中年后认知和身体功能的关系。该研究将把贯穿一生的血管危险因素和中年早期的亚临床血管标志物与中年后期的认知和身体表现联系起来。在此过程中，我们将确定干预的风险因素、时机和亚人群，这些干预可以减少老年人认知和身体衰退的发生率，并提高全国人民的成功老龄化率。

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.