Psychosocial protective factors in cognitive and brain aging

项目总结/摘要 确定干预措施的潜在目标，以减少不同老年人与年龄相关的认知发病率， 对美国迅速扩大的老龄化人口至关重要。 观察性研究表明，可改变的积极心理社会因素（即，幸福感，自我效能，社会 支持）与老年人更好的认知功能有关。这些影响独立于 负面影响（例如，抑郁症）。然而，很少有人注意到老年人的亚群， 特别容易受到与年龄相关的认知疾病的影响：非洲裔美国人，西班牙裔美国人和患有 轻度认知障碍（MCI）。此外，尚不清楚这些积极的心理社会因素是否缓冲了 对抗大脑病理学的负面认知影响，如结构磁共振测量 显像 这个K99/R 00提案为专注于表征 心理社会因素保护老年人免受与年龄相关的认知疾病的机制 多样的人口。研究和培训计划将为申请人提供（1）补充 在老年人群中建模神经成像生物标志物数据方面的培训，（2）更广泛的经验， 心理社会变量在老龄化，（3）在跨文化神经心理学的坚实基础。这些 经验将补充申请人在老年神经心理学方面的强大现有背景， 定量方法 该研究计划扩展了现有的以社区为基础的多种族老年人纵向研究， 哥伦比亚大学。这些不同的人群每18-24个月进行一次认知测试，医学检查， MCI/痴呆的评估、健康措施和共识诊断。子集接收结构 神经成像该提案增加了经过充分验证的、基于计算机的心理社会功能测量， 来自NIH的认知研究。横截面和纵向结构方程模型（SEM）将测试 积极心理社会因素、认知和海马神经元定量测量之间的关系 体积、局部皮质厚度、白色高信号体积和梗死。主要目标是 描述积极的心理社会因素在晚年认知能力下降中的作用，并确定是否 它们降低了脑病理学的结构MRI标记物对认知功能的影响。

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Identifying potential targets for interventions to reduce age-related cognitive morbidity in diverse elders is of critical importance to the rapidly expanding aging population in the U.S. Substantial evidence from observational studies suggest that modifiable positive psychosocial factors (i.e., well-being, self-efficacy, social support) are associated with better cognitive functioning among older adults. These effects are independent of negative affect (e.g., depression). However, little attention has been given to subgroups of older adults who are particularly vulnerable to age-related cognitive morbidity: African Americans, Hispanics, and individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). In addition, it is unclear whether these positive psychosocial factors buffer against the negative cognitive effects of brain pathology, as measured with structural magnetic resonance imaging. This K99/R00 proposal lays the foundation for an independent research career focused on characterizing the mechanisms underlying psychosocial factors that protect against age-related cognitive morbidity among a diverse population. Together, the research and training plans will provide the applicant (1) supplementary training in modeling neuroimaging biomarker data in an aged population, (2) broader experience with psychosocial variables in aging, and (3) a strong foundation in cross-cultural neuropsychology. These experiences will supplement the applicant's strong existing background in geriatric neuropsychology and quantitative methods. The research plan expands an existing community-based longitudinal study of multi-ethnic older adults at Columbia University. This diverse population is followed every 18-24 months with cognitive testing, medical evaluation, health measures, and consensus diagnoses of MCI/dementia. A subset receive structural neuroimaging. This proposal adds well-validated, computer-based measures of psychosocial functioning and cognition from the NIH Toolbox. Cross-sectional and longitudinal structural equation models (SEM) will test relationships between positive psychosocial factors, cognition, and quantitated measures of hippocampal volume, regional cortical thickness, white matter hyperintensity volume, and infarcts. The primary goal is to characterize the role of positive psychosocial factors in late-life cognitive decline and to determine whether they reduce the impact of structural MRI markers of brain pathology on cognitive functioning.