Cognitive Aging in a Population-Based Sample of Older Adults in Puerto Rico

描述(由申请者提供)：我们提出了一个为期两年的探索性/发展性项目，以检验认知结果的预测因素，这是第一次以人口为基础、在全岛范围内对60岁及以上的波多黎各社区居民进行的研究。走访了波多黎各主岛各地的家庭，以确定#年4,291名参与者的目标样本 波多黎各老年人健康状况(PREHCO)研究。这一建议利用丰富的生命历程数据来研究可能影响认知老化的因素的理论驱动的假说。总体目标是(A)分析现有的生活过程和认知数据，(B)通过对教育和职业因素的更精细的评估来丰富数据，以及(C)将该项目作为对前HCO样本进行纵向跟踪的跳板，目的是收集更多的认知数据以及与检查认知老化相关的新的遗传和生物标记数据。在这项探索性研究中，我们建议通过收集有关早期教育质量、成年后职业复杂性和工作压力的新数据，扩大学前教育中可用的生命过程测量，以获得与老年认知功能相关的环境因素的全面记录。该项目还将使我们能够提供第一批以人口为基础的规范数据 对波多黎各老年人的认知表现进行评估，并采用基于回归的分界点，用西班牙语测量来确定认知障碍。总体假设是，与社会经济地位(SES)、环境复杂性和整个生命过程中的压力相关的潜在可修改因素将是未来生活中认知结果的预测因素。这一初步开发项目将加强后续的研究建议，以跟踪前HCO样本(目前为70岁以上)。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): We propose a two-year exploratory/developmental project to examine predictors of cognitive outcomes in the first population-based, island-wide study of community-dwelling Puerto Ricans age 60 and older. Households across the main island of Puerto Rico were visited in order to identify the target sample of 4,291 participants for the Puerto Rican Elderly: Health Conditions (PREHCO) study. This proposal takes advantage of rich life course data to investigate theory- driven hypotheses about factors that may influence cognitive aging. The overarching goals are to (a) analyze the existing life course and cognitive data, (b) enrich the data with more refined assessment of educational and occupation-based factors, and (c) use this project as a springboard for a longitudinal follow-up of the PREHCO sample for the purpose of collecting additional cognitive data as well as new genetic and biomarker data relevant to examining cognitive aging. In this exploratory study, we propose to expand life course measures available in PREHCO by gathering novel data on quality of education in early-life, and on occupational complexity and job strain in adulthood, in order to obtain a comprehensive record of environmental factors relevant to cognitive function in older adulthood. This project will also allow us to provide the first population-based normative data for cognitive performance among older adults in Puerto Rico, and to implement regression-based cutoffs for determining cognitive impairment with a Spanish language measure. The overall hypothesis is that potentially modifiable factors related to socioeconomic status (SES), environmental complexity, and stress across the life course will be predictors of cognitive outcomes in later life. This initial developmental project will strengthen a subsequent research proposal to follow-up the PREHCO sample (currently age 70+).