Environmental Determinants of Cognitive Aging in the WHI Memory Study

WHI 记忆研究中认知衰老的环境决定因素

• 批准号: 8431400
• 负责人: Jiu-Chiuan Chen
• 金额: $ 68.29万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-03-15 至 2015-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/8431400
• 关键词: Address; Adverse effects; Affect; Age; Air; Air Pollutants; Air Pollution; Alzheimer' s Disease; Amyloid; Animal Model; Area; Atherosclerosis; Attention; Autopsy; Blood - brain barrier anatomy; Blood Vessels; Brain; Brain region; Caliber; Canis familiaris; Cardiovascular Diseases; Cerebrovascular Disorders; Clinical; Cognitive; Cognitive aging; Cohort Studies; Cox Models; Cross-Sectional Studies; Data; Data Analyses; Dementia; Elderly; Enrollment; Ensure; Environmental Hazards; Environmental Health; Epidemiology; Exposure to; Goals; Health; Health Policy; Hippocampus (Brain); Human; Impaired cognition; Individual; Individual Differences; Inflammation; Knowledge; Link; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Measurement; Memory; Memory impairment; Modeling; Monitor; Neuritis; Neurocognitive; Neurodegenerative Disorders; Neurology; Neuropsychology; Outcome; Output; Oxidative Stress; Ozone; Participant; Particulate Matter; Pattern; Population; Predisposition; Psychometrics; Public Health; Quality of life; Reaction; Research; Research Personnel; Risk; Scientist; Stroke; Structural Models; Structure; System; Testing; Time; Vascular Dementia; Vascular Diseases; Woman; Women' s Health; aged; aging brain; air sampling; base; brain volume; cardiovascular disorder risk; cerebrovascular; cerebrovascular lesion; cognitive function; cost; design; experience; follow-up; frontal lobe; hippocampal atrophy; ischemic lesion; men; mortality; neuroimaging; neuroinflammation; neuropathology; neurotoxic; neurotoxicity; novel; older women; prefrontal lobe; public health relevance; residence; spatiotemporal; white matter

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The long-term goal of this project is to better understand the environmental influence on brain aging and subsequent risk of cognitive impairment and dementia. Specifically, we will investigate later-life exposure to ambient air pollutants as novel environmental determinants of cognitive aging in a susceptible population of older women. Over the last decade, scientific research has repeatedly shown that ambient air pollution increases cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk and mortality. Previous studies have found that older people, especially women, are more sensitive to these adverse health effects of air pollutants. Although CVD is a major contributor to cognitive impairment and dementia, little attention has been directed to the potential impact of ambient air pollution on cognitive health of the elderly. Memory impairments have been demonstrated in animal models exposed to ozone. Neurotoxicological data have shown that exposures to ambient air pollutants induce oxidative stress and neuroinflammation in multiple brain regions, especially in hippocampus and prefrontal region. Air pollution toxicopathological studies also found evidence of accelerated brain aging (e.g., 2-amyloid accumulation with or without dystrophic neuritis) in canines. Human autopsy studies and cross-sectional epidemiologic analyses have related ambient air pollution to neuropathology of brain aging or cognitive impairment, respectively. Convincing cohort studies on whether and how ambient air pollution contributes to brain aging and subsequent risk of cognitive impairment and dementia in humans, however, are still lacking. The proposed study is thus designed in a cost-efficient manner to address this critical knowledge gap, through the following specific aims: (1) to examine whether later-life exposure to air pollution predicts declines in cognitive function (global; specific domains); (2) to investigate whether long-term air pollution exposure increases the risk of dementia; (3) to elucidate the possible mechanisms linking cognitive impairment with exposure to air pollution; and (4) to identify the clinical determinants of population susceptibility to the neurocognitive effects of air pollution. This application leverages the high-quality longitudinal outcome data collected in the well-characterized Women's Health Initiative Memory Study (WHIMS) cohort (N=7479; aged 65-80 years). Based on residential geocode of each WHIMS participant, exposures to particulate matter and ozone will be estimated by a spatiotemporal modeling approach, which integrates air-sample measurements from the U.S. EPA monitoring system with the data outputs of air quality models. Multivariable-adjusted Cox models, multilevel mixed-effect models, and latent curve structural models will be used to analyze the data. The knowledge gained from this study will contribute to national efforts to better understand the environmental influence on cognitive health, address a critical knowledge gap in the emerging area of environmental neurology, and inform the environmental public health policies.

描述（由申请人提供）：该项目的长期目标是更好地了解环境对大脑衰老以及随后的认知障碍和痴呆风险的影响。具体来说，我们将调查晚年接触环境空气污染物的情况，将其作为老年女性易感人群认知衰老的新环境决定因素。过去十年中，科学研究多次表明，环境空气污染会增加心血管疾病 (CVD) 的风险和死亡率。此前的研究发现，老年人，尤其是女性，对空气污染物对健康的不利影响更加敏感。尽管心血管疾病是导致认知障碍和痴呆的主要原因，但人们很少关注环境空气污染对老年人认知健康的潜在影响。暴露于臭氧的动物模型已证实记忆障碍。神经毒理学数据表明，暴露于环境空气污染物会引起多个大脑区域的氧化应激和神经炎症，特别是海马体和前额叶区域。空气污染毒理学研究还发现了犬科动物大脑加速老化的证据（例如伴有或不伴有营养不良性神经炎的 2-淀粉样蛋白积累）。人体尸检研究和横断面流行病学分析分别将环境空气污染与大脑老化或认知障碍的神经病理学联系起来。然而，关于环境空气污染是否以及如何导致人类大脑衰老以及随后的认知障碍和痴呆风险的令人信服的队列研究仍然缺乏。因此，拟议的研究以具有成本效益的方式设计，旨在通过以下具体目标来解决这一关键的知识差距：（1）检查晚年暴露于空气污染是否预示着认知功能的下降（全球；特定领域）； （2）调查长期接触空气污染是否会增加患痴呆症的风险； (3) 阐明认知障碍与空气污染暴露之间的可能机制； (4) 确定人群对空气污染神经认知影响的易感性的临床决定因素。该应用程序利用了在特征明确的女性健康倡议记忆研究 (WHIMS) 队列（N=7479；年龄 65-80 岁）中收集的高质量纵向结果数据。根据每个 WHIMS 参与者的住宅地理编码，将通过时空建模方法来估计颗粒物和臭氧的暴露量，该方法将美国 EPA 监测系统的空气样本测量值与空气质量模型的数据输出相结合。多变量调整的Cox模型、多级混合效应模型和潜在曲线结构模型将用于分析数据。从这项研究中获得的知识将有助于各国更好地了解环境对认知健康的影响，解决环境神经学新兴领域的关键知识差距，并为环境公共卫生政策提供信息。