Leaders in Research
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Dr. Kristine Yaffe MD
Professor of Psychiatry, Neurology & Epidemiology
University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine
Determinants Of Cognitive Change And Its Outcomes In African-American And White Elders.
The goal of my proposal is to determine the comprehensive predictors of cognitive change in a cohort of African-American and white elders and to determine, among those with cognitive decline, the predictors of adverse functional, psychological and social consequences. A special focus of the proposed research is the novel investigation of longitudinal cognitive function and associated outcomes among diverse ethnic groups. The cohort for this proposal, participants enrolled in the NIH-funded Health, Aging, Body Composition (Health ABC) Study, represents a unique population ideal for this goal. The cohort is comprised of almost half African-American elders with similar numbers of men and women, all between the ages of 70-79 years at the time of enrollment.
My proposed Beeson project has the following 4 aims: 1) to determine whether the observed differences among Health ABC African-American and white elders on baseline cognitive scores are attributable to differences in education, income, access to care and other disparities; 2) to determine the trajectories of 5-year cognitive change and if they differ among African-American and white elders; 3) to determine, using data already collected or being proposed, how an individual's biology and psycho-social characteristics combine to predict cognitive change and if these predictors vary by ethnicity; and 4) to determine how cognitive change interrelates with other adverse outcomes such as functional, psychological and social impairment and if performance on specific cognitive domains (such as executive function) may differentially impact on these outcomes.
The information obtained from this proposal will help us better understand the multi-dimensional determinants of cognitive change in the elderly with an aim to developing programs to prevent and treat cognitive decline. It will extend our conception of what "healthy cognitive aging" means and how this applies to different individuals and different ethnic groups.
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