The Health & Aging Brain Study (R01AG054073) is a 12 million dollar study funded by the National Institute of Aging. The goal is to study pathways for MCI and AD among Mexican Americans and non-Hispanic whites, and define subtle neuroanatomical and blood-based biomarker changes that are related to future risk of MCI and AD. This study contains 2 assessments (baseline and 24 month follow-up). Each assessment contains 5 components:

Background

The Mexican American elderly population is expected to grow seven-fold by 2050 with the prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) growing exponentially within this underserved population. Our long-term goal is to address two important health disparities related to AD faced by Mexican Americans: (1) younger age of onset and (2) decreased access to methods for early detection and treatment. Prior work by our team, and others, has shown that Mexican Americans are diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment (MCI; pre-AD) and AD at younger ages as compared to non-Hispanic whites; however not studies have examined this health disparity. Also, a substantial literature documents an access to care barrier facing Mexican Americans that results in delays to treatment, increased family burden and limited access to resources. Our team has generated a blood-based screening tool for the detection of AD that has excellent accuracy among Mexican Americans. The significance of this study is the establishment of differential pathways to MCI and AD among Mexican Americans and the validation of a blood screening tool for use in primary care settings.