The National Institutes of Health awarded UC Davis Health a $15.85 million grant on Apr. 1 to support the next phase of a major study on brain aging in Hispanic-Latino communities.
This funding aims to address the higher risk of heart and vascular diseases, as well as mild cognitive impairment and dementia, faced by Latinos compared to other groups in the United States. Despite being one of the fastest growing demographics, Latinos have been underrepresented in research related to aging and dementia.
The grant will help create what researchers describe as the most comprehensive long-term dataset on Hispanic and Latino brain aging so far. "Our goal is to identify the factors that matter most for healthy cognitive aging - and ultimately reduce the burden of dementia for millions of families. Our new study will give us an unprecedented ability to understand how the brain changes over time in Latino communities," said Charles DeCarli, UC Davis distinguished professor of neurology and principal investigator.
The research will track brain and cognitive changes among Latinos from diverse backgrounds over about 12 years, using repeated MRI scans, blood biomarkers, health data, lifestyle information, and cognitive testing results. "Latino communities have been historically overlooked in aging research. This grant allows us to change that," said Héctor González, co-principal investigator from UC San Diego.
González also highlighted previous work through the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL), which began in 2008 with more than 16,000 participants from various Latin American origins enrolled at four U.S. centers: Miami, San Diego, Chicago and New York. DeCarli said this approach enables researchers to consider genetic differences as well as social and environmental exposures within Latino populations that may influence dementia risk.
Researchers hope that understanding modifiable risk factors such as high blood pressure could lead to interventions that change how brains age among Latino adults. "We want to address dementia and Alzheimer's disease, but we also want to address the other pathologies contributing to bad brain aging," González said.
