UC San Diego and UC Davis have received a $15.85 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to fund an extensive study on how the brain ages among Hispanic and Latino communities, it was announced Thursday.
Latinos have a higher risk of heart and vascular diseases and are more prone to developing mild cognitive impairment or dementia than people from other groups, yet they remain underrepresented in research on aging and dementia.
The grant is intended to support the creation of the most comprehensive long-term dataset on Hispanic and Latino brain aging to date.
"Latino communities have been historically overlooked in aging research. This grant allows us to change that," said Hector González, co- principal investigator on the new grant and professor of neurosciences at UCSD School of Medicine. "By studying brain health in a diverse and deeply characterized Latino cohort, we can develop better tools for early detection and more effective strategies for prevention that truly reflect our communities."
The grant allows González — as well as Charles DeCarli, UC Davis distinguished professor of neurology and the study's principal investigator — and researchers to track brain and cognitive changes in Latinos from diverse backgrounds.
In 2008, González and a team started the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos.
"At that time, most of the field focused on older adults — mostly people in their 70s and 80s. This was a challenge for researchers studying cognitive aging and dementias," González said. "So, we took a life course framework to capture maladies, such as diabetes and hypertension, which show up at different phases of life."
The new study enrolled a younger cohort, including more than 16,000 Latino participants from continental (Mexico, South America and Central America) and Caribbean (Cuba, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico) Latino origins. The multi-site study enrolled participants in four centers: Miami, San Diego, Chicago and New York.
"What's unique about HCHS/SOL is that it was designed to get representative samples of people who come from various Hispanic-Latino backgrounds," DeCarli said. "There are widely varying social, economic and environmental exposures, as well as genetic differences within the Latino community that may influence risk for dementia and need to be further studied."
The funding announced Wednesday will allow team members to shift to long-term tracking of brain health. They will monitor around 1,800 Latino adults for a period of 12 years, collecting repeated MRI scans, blood biomarkers, health and lifestyle information and data from cognitive testing.
The goal is to "better understand how Alzheimer's disease, vascular injury and other brain changes develop over time — and why Latino adults face higher rates of certain cognitive disorders," according to a UC Davis statement.
"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. "What's truly unique and powerful about this study is the recognition, appreciation and emphasis on understanding these other pathologies by using data from the MRIs and biomarker panels."
