The Neighborhoods study, which involves 22 Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers across the country, received $30.9 million in funding for research on environmental factors and their correlation to Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD).
The researchers use the social exposome to describe environmental factors. It is the cumulative social, biological and environmental factors that influence health over an individual’s lifetime, according to lead researcher Dr. Amy Kind, MD, PhD, professor of medicine and associate dean for social health sciences and programs.
“The study found that living in more socially and economically disadvantaged neighborhoods was associated with poorer cognitive function and greater evidence of brain changes related to ADRD,” Kind told The Daily Cardinal in an email. “Even after accounting for individual risk factors.”
While the initial phase offered strong data, it primarily used brain imaging, which can miss brain changes and diseases. Future research will use autopsy records to examine brain tissue itself.
“Additional study is needed to unlock the mechanism for why these associations may be occurring,” Kind said in the email.
The study measures social exposome using the Area Deprivation Index (ADI), which ranks every census block in the United States through 17 factors – such as income, education, employment and housing quality. Kind refined the ADI from large regions of interest to the neighborhood level with her research team more than 15 years ago.
According to Kind, the next phase of The Neighborhoods Study will expand its population size and dig deeper into the disease mechanisms behind its observations.
This includes adding information about other exposures that may affect brain health, like lead, occupational exposures and heavy metals found in donated brain tissue. Researchers will examine these exposures longitudinally for their impact on ADRD, according to Kind.
The project period for the renewal funds the research through 2031, according to Kind.
“Because this phase builds upon and expands the work the team accomplished during the first funding period,” Kind said l in the email. “Publications and other scientific products resulting from this award have been and continue to be actively shared in the scientific community and across our communities of interest today.”
The Neighborhoods Study currently holds the third-largest National Institutes of Health grant given to UW-Madison, behind only the CLARiTI Study on Alzheimer’s and the Genomic Variation Consortium.
“This work helps us to better understand how we might one day better prevent and treat Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias,” Kind said in the email. “Our overall goal is to serve the millions of persons and families who are battling this devastating disease (ADRD), and to provide more options and hope for the future.”
