HABS-HD - Core E - Disparities & Outreach Core

HABS-HD DISPARITIES & OUTREACH CORE (CORE E) - ABSTRACT One of the primary goals of the National Alzheimer’s Project Act (NAPA) is to “improve outcomes for ethnic and racial minority populations.” However, substantial gaps in understanding the reasons for the disparate increase in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and AD related disorders (ADRDs) in ethnic and racial minority populations exist, primarily due to the underrepresentation of minority groups in aging research. Community engagement and outreach is considered one of the most successful strategies to recruiting diverse populations into research. The Dallas Forth-Worth (DFW) metroplex, home to the Health and Aging Brain Study-Health Disparities (HABS-HD), is currently reflective of the future U.S. racial/ethnic population and an ideal location to simultaneously study cognitive aging among African Americans (AA), Mexican Americans (MA; 63% of the U.S. Hispanic population) and non-Hispanic whites (NHW). HABS-HD is the first large-scale, community-based project to simultaneously study each of the AT(N) defined biomarkers, in alignment with the NIA Health Disparities Research Framework. The long-term goal of HABS-HD is to establish population-specific informed precision medicine for novel treatment and prevention strategies as called for in NIA AD+ADRD Research Implementation Milestone 1. For nearly 10 years, HABS-HD has built a network of community ties and relationships using a community-based approach to recruitment. This approach, which emphasized outreach, engagement, and collaboration between the research team and key stakeholders in the community, led to the successful recruitment of 2,000 participants (n=1,000 NHW, 1,000 MA) aged 50 and older and longitudinal follow-ups are underway. Based on UNTHSC Institutional funding, the cohort has expanded to include 1,000 AAs with recruitment to be completed prior to initiation of this U19. As part of the proposed U19, the primary goal of the Core E is to further increase awareness and engagement of diverse communities into research and to provide the outreach infrastructure to comprehensively understand the development and progression of AD and ADRDs across the lifecourse. To address this goal, Core E will address the following Specific Aims: Aim 1: Extend the recruitment of the HABS-HD cohort to ages 30-49 (n=500 per racial/ethnic group), retain existing participants, and recruit new participants to counteract attrition. Aim 2: Generate and disseminate educational materials regarding the importance of brain aging over the lifecourse and the importance of research in diverse communities. Aim 3: In collaboration with all Cores and Projects, continue to monitor and ensure that all HABS-HD activities are conducted in alignment with the NIA Health Disparities Research Framework.