Education and Cognitive Functioning in Later Life: The Nation’s High School Class of 1972

项目摘要/摘要 教育是晚年认知功能的最重要决定因素之一，也是 AD/ADRD风险。然而，我们对教育如何、为什么或对谁来说对这些认知具有重要意义知之甚少。 结果。这使得设计有效的早期预防干预措施变得困难。知道如何以及为什么 教育对晚年认知功能和AD/ADRD风险的生物标志物很重要，我们需要高水平的 高质量的前瞻性研究，跟踪不同的年轻人从学校到成年的整个过程； 观察中年社会经济状况的关键和可改变的教育背景、机会和结果 以及评估认知功能和晚年AD/ADRD风险的生物学标志。到目前为止， 不存在这样的研究。 该项目汇集了一支由神经学家、神经心理学家、 社会学家、教育科学家、调查方法学家、生物统计学家和神经成像专家 1972年全国高中生纵向研究(NLS-72； N=14,489)。NLS-72是一个具有全国代表性的高度多样化的美国人第一随机样本 1972年以高三学生的身份接受采访。遵循在高层开发并成功部署的协议 在2014-2015和2021年，该团队将进行家庭访谈，包括 广泛的认知评估和人体测量；家访以采集全血；以及 五个区域中心之一附近的500人)通过协调磁共振成像(MRI)进行神经成像。 由此产生的数据将在项目期间安全地发布给更广泛的科学界-- 将用于对教育背景、机会和 认知评估、基于血液的神经病理标志物、 和神经成像。该项目有四个目标：(目标1)估计教育塑造的程度 70岁时AD/ADRD风险的生物学、神经认知和行为标记物；(目标2)估计 哪些成人社会经济成就中介了教育对血管健康、生物节奏的影响 老龄化和70岁时的认知功能；(目标3)估计种族和民族差异的程度 教育质量和回报方面的差异是AD/ADRD风险标记物差异的原因；和(目标4) 安全地传播新收集的NLS-72数据，供研究界广泛使用。所做的分析 新收集的数据可能会改变我们对教育和其他早期教育方式和原因的理解 生活因素影响AD/ADRD风险和复原力。

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Education is among the most important determinants of later-life cognitive functioning and biological markers of AD/ADRD risk. However, we know very little about how, why, or for whom education matters for these cognitive outcomes. This makes it difficult to design effective early life preventative interventions. To know how and why education matters for later-life cognitive functioning and biological markers of AD/ADRD risk, we need high quality prospective studies that follow diverse young people through schools and across adulthood; that measure key and modifiable educational contexts, opportunities, and outcomes; that observe midlife socioeconomic attainments; and that assess cognitive functioning and biological markers of AD/ADRD risk in late life. To date, no such studies exist. This project brings together an established and interdisciplinary team of neurologists, neuropsychologists, sociologists, education scientists, survey methodologists, biostatisticians, and neuroimaging experts who will re- contact surviving members the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 (NLS-72; N=14,489). NLS-72 is a nationally representative and highly diverse random sample of Americans first interviewed as high school seniors in 1972. Following protocols developed and successfully deployed in the High School and Beyond (HSB) cohort in 2014-2015 and 2021, the team will conduct in-home interviews that include extensive cognitive assessments and anthropometric measures; in-home visits to gather whole blood; and (for 500 people near one of five regional centers) neuroimaging via harmonized magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The resulting data—which will be securely released to the wider scientific community during the project period— will be used to conduct transformative analyses of the effects of educational contexts, opportunities, and outcomes on risk of AD/ADRD as observed in cognitive assessments, blood-based markers of neuropathology, and neuroimaging. The project has four aims: (Aim 1) To estimate the extent to which education shapes biological, neurocognitive, and behavioral markers of AD/ADRD risk at age 70; (Aim 2) To estimate the extent to which adult socioeconomic attainments mediate the effects of education on vascular health, pace of biological aging, and cognitive functioning at age 70; (Aim 3) To estimate the extent to which racial and ethnic differences in the quality of and returns to education account for disparities in markers of AD/ADRD risk; and (Aim 4) To securely disseminate newly collected NLS-72 data for wide use by the research community. The analyses made possible by the newly collected data will transform our understanding of how and why education and other early life factors impact AD/ADRD risk and resilience.