Psychosocial Protective Factors in Cognitive and Brain Aging

描述(由申请人提供)：确定潜在的干预目标，以降低不同老年人与年龄相关的认知发病率，对美国迅速增长的老龄化人口至关重要。来自观察性研究的大量证据表明，可修改的积极心理社会因素(即幸福感、自我效能、社会支持)是 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)。然而，很少有人关注老年人中特别容易受到年龄相关认知障碍影响的亚群：非洲裔美国人、西班牙裔美国人和患有轻度认知障碍(MCI)的个人。此外，目前尚不清楚这些积极的心理社会因素是否缓冲了结构磁共振成像测量的大脑病理的负面认知影响。这项K99/R00建议奠定了独立研究生涯的基础，专注于确定在不同人群中预防与年龄相关的认知疾病的心理社会因素潜在的机制。总之，研究和培训计划将为申请者提供(1)在老年人口中模拟神经成像生物标记物数据的补充培训，(2)在老龄化的心理社会变量方面的更广泛经验，以及(3)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和量化方法方面的强大现有背景。这项研究计划扩大了哥伦比亚大学现有的一项以社区为基础的、对多种族老年人的纵向研究。这些不同的人群每18-24个月接受一次认知测试、医学评估、健康测量和对MCI/痴呆症的共识诊断。一个子集接受结构神经成像。这项建议增加了NIH工具箱中经过充分验证的、基于计算机的心理社会功能和认知测量。横断面和纵向结构方程模型(SEM)将检验积极的心理社会因素、认知和定量测量的海马体积、局部皮质厚度、白质高强度体积和脑梗塞之间的关系。主要目标是确定积极的心理社会因素在晚年认知下降中的作用，并确定它们是否减少了大脑病理的结构性MRI标记物对认知功能的影响。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): 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 receives 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.