Longitudinal associations between neighborhood greenspace and brain aging in cognitively normal older adults

项目摘要 阿尔茨海默氏症目前影响着580万美国人，目前还没有可用的治疗方法来预防该病。 阿尔茨海默氏症的风险可以通过健康的饮食、减轻压力和体力活动来降低，但保持 由于成本和积极性低，这些在实践中可能很难做到。解决这些障碍，城市规划和 公共卫生研究人员已经证明了社区特征通过提供 鼓励健康行为的便利设施，如步行。绿地(公共和私人区域 植被)是以前与降低阿尔茨海默氏症风险和速度较慢相关的一种社区特征 到目前为止发表的为数不多的研究中的认知能力下降。贝瑟博士的短期研究目标是推动 就这一主题进行研究，以评估社区绿地是否与老年人的大脑老化有关。这个 K01的具体目标是确定是否生活在植被更茂盛、更容易进入公园的社区 在早年、中期和晚年，认知衰退的速度较慢，脑萎缩较少。 认知正常的老年人，以及这些关联是否因性别、种族、载脂蛋白E基因而异 (阿尔茨海默病的遗传风险因素)和地理区域。这项纵向的观察性研究将 结合来自三个阿尔茨海默病中心的临床和脑体积数据，邮寄问卷，以及 利用地理信息系统得出的邻里绿地测量。结果变量将 包括认知领域(情景记忆、语言、注意力、执行功能)和大脑体积 测量(海马体体积、脑白质高信号)。多层线性混合模型将解释 社区聚类和控制混杂因素(例如，人口统计、社区社会经济 状态)。平行的职业发展计划包括：1)学习开发重点社区建设 环境和脑老化措施；2)提高和发展专门的初级数据收集技能； 3)获得衰老生物学、流行病学和认知神经科学方面的知识；4)准备和 提交第一份R01提案；5)培养多学科合作。贝瑟医生的机构， 佛罗里达大西洋大学提供了一个高度支持的环境，拥有所有必要的教职员工， 资金和研究支持，为多学科和协作研究提供丰富的机会。这个 主要导师和共同导师是各自领域的神经学/衰老研究和城市和 区域规划。Besser博士的机构环境、职业发展计划和具体目标是 非常适合使她的长期目标成为一名拥有 R01资助的成熟、创新的研究计划，重点关注社区建设环境以支持 健康的大脑老化。

PROJECT ABSTRACT No treatments are available to prevent Alzheimer’s disease, which currently affects 5.8 million Americans. Alzheimer’s risk can be reduced through healthy diets, stress reduction and physical activity, yet maintaining these can be difficult in practice due to cost and low motivation. Addressing these barriers, urban planning and public health researchers have evidenced neighborhood characteristics that promote health by offering amenities encouraging health behaviors such as walking. Greenspace (public and private areas with vegetation) is one such neighborhood feature previously associated with reduced Alzheimer’s risk and slower cognitive decline in the few published studies to date. Dr. Besser’s short-term research goal is to advance the research on this topic, to assess if neighborhood greenspace is associated with brain aging in older adults. The K01 specific aims are to determine if living in neighborhoods with greater vegetation and better access to parks in early, mid, and late-life is associated with slower rates of cognitive decline and less brain atrophy in cognitively normal older adults, and whether these associations vary by sex, race, apolipoprotein E genotype (genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease), and geographic region. This longitudinal, observational study will combine clinical and brain volume data from three Alzheimer’s Disease Centers, a mailed questionnaire, and neighborhood greenspace measures derived using geographic information systems. Outcome variables will include cognitive domain (episodic memory, language, attention, executive function) and brain volume measures (hippocampal volume, white matter hyperintensities). Multi-level linear mixed models will account for neighborhood clustering and control for confounders (e.g., demographics, neighborhood socioeconomic status). The parallel career development plan involves: 1) learning to develop key neighborhood built environment and brain aging measures; 2) advancing and developing specialized primary data collection skills; 3) gaining knowledge in the biology and epidemiology of aging and cognitive neuroscience; 4) preparing and submitting the first R01 proposal; and 5) cultivating multidisciplinary collaborations. Dr. Besser’s institution, Florida Atlantic University, offers a highly supportive environment with all of the necessary faculty, teaching, financial, and research supports and rich opportunities for multidisciplinary and collaborative research. The primary mentor and co-mentor are experts in their respective fields of neurology/aging research and urban and regional planning. Dr. Besser’s institutional environment, career development plan, and specific aims are ideally suited to enable her long-term goal to become an expert and independent research scientist with an established, innovative, R01-funded research program focused on neighborhood built environments to support healthy brain aging.