Educational and Early Life Predictors of Mild Cognitive Impairment: New Evidence about Mediators and Moderators from High School & Beyond

项目总结/摘要 教育是认知功能和认知障碍的最重要预测因素之一（包括 MCI和AD/ADRD）。然而，由于科学家不知道教育如何或为什么对这些认知至关重要， 因此，很难设计有效的干预措施。目前关于（a）的信息很少 预防认知障碍或提供认知障碍复原力的教育的具体方面，以及（B） 这些影响是通过什么来发挥作用的。一个主要原因是缺乏关于如何或为什么教育的信息， 这些认知结果的重要性在于，有关教育机会、环境和成就的数据 主要通过回顾性报告收集。了解教育如何以及为什么对认知 功能和损伤，科学界需要高质量的前瞻性研究， 人们通过学校和整个成年期，衡量教育的关键和可改变的方面， 评估以后的认知功能。 这个项目汇集了一个跨学科的团队，包括领先的神经学家，神经心理学家，社会学家， 教育科学家和调查方法学家，他们将设计协议，重新联系所有25,500名幸存者， 高中及以后（HSB）队列的成员-一个具有全国代表性的美国人随机样本 1980年在高中首次采访-并使用由此产生的数据进行变革性分析， 教育对认知功能的影响和中年受损的风险。该项目有五个目标：（目标1） 评估（a）青少年认知和非认知技能，（B）中学课程学习 （c）其他学校结构和社会环境对认知功能的影响， （目标2）评估在这些方面的种族/族裔差异的程度， 教育解释认知功能和障碍方面的种族/族裔差异;（目标3）评估 教育的影响是由教育程度、经济压力和认知能力介导的。 中年有偿工作的复杂性;以及（目标4）评估种族/民族和遗传风险 这些因素缓和了教育对认知功能和障碍的影响。收集所需的数据 为了实现这些目标，研究人员将进行互联网/电话调查，并通过 邮寄回来的唾液工具箱（目标5）将建立由此产生的数据库和相关文件及元数据， 免费提供给研究界，以促进MCI，AD/ADRD发展的奖学金， 认知能力下降

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Education is among the most important predictors of cognitive functioning and cognitive impairment (including MCI and AD/ADRD). However, because scientists do not know how or why education matters for these cognitive outcomes, it is difficult to design effective interventions. There is currently very little information about (a) the specific aspects of education that prevent or provide resilience to cognitive impairment and (b) the pathways through which those effects operate. A major reason for this lack of information about how or why education matters for these cognitive outcomes is that data on educational opportunities, environments, and attainments have mainly been gathered via retrospective reports. To know how and why education matters for cognitive functioning and impairment, the scientific community needs high quality prospective studies that follow young people through schools and throughout adulthood, measures key and modifiable aspects of education, and then assess cognitive functioning later in life. This project brings together an interdisciplinary team of leading neurologists, neuropsychologists, sociologists, education scientists, and survey methodologists who will design protocols to re-contact all ≈25,500 surviving members the High School & Beyond (HSB) cohort—a nationally representative random sample of Americans first interviewed in high school in 1980—and use the resulting data to conduct transformative analyses of the effects of education on cognitive function and risk for impairment at midlife. The project has five aims: (Aim 1) To estimate the effects of (a) adolescent cognitive and non-cognitive skills, (b) secondary school course taking and college field of study, and (c) other school structures and social environments on cognitive functioning and impairment at midlife; (Aim 2) To assess the degree to which racial/ethnic differences in those aspects of education explain racial/ethnic disparities in cognitive functioning and impairment; (Aim 3) To assess the degree to which the effects of education are mediated by educational attainment, economic strain, and the cognitive complexity of paid jobs at midlife; and (Aim 4) To assess the degree to which race/ethnicity and genetic risk factors moderate the effects of education on cognitive functioning and impairment. To gather the data required to pursue these Aims, the investigators will conduct an internet/phone survey and gather genetic material via a mail-back saliva kit. (Aim5) The resulting database and associated documentation and metadata will be made freely available to the research community to facilitate scholarship on the development of MCI, AD/ADRD, and cognitive decline.