Study of Latinos Investigation of Neurocognitive Aging 2
By 2060, the CDC projects that the Latino population will experience the largest increase in Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia (ADRD) cases of all US ethnic/racial groups. The main, if not only, explanation oft echoed for disparately high Latino ADRD is attributed to early and excess cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity contributing to disparately high ADRD. CVD risk factors emerge earlier among Latinos in midlife, thereby increasing deleterious exposures to exquisitely sensitive and highly vascularized brain tissue. Yet, to- date there has not been any study of Latinos with sufficiently deep CVD phenotyping and genotyping to adequately address this significant public health question. This scientific knowledge gap is a significant impediment to the field and public health given continued and rapid Latino population growth projections, particularly for older adults. Latinos now represent nearly one-fifth of the US and 40% of its two most populous states, California and Texas. In coming decades, the older Latino population (>65 years) will quadruple (391%) and US public health is ill-prepared for forthcoming demographic and health-related shifts in the population. The Study of Latinos-Investigation of Neurocognitive Aging (SOL-INCA) is the only large, representative and ongoing longitudinal study of CVD, genomics and cognitive aging and ADRD in diverse Latinos. In this SOL- INCA renewal, we will leverage 10-years of deep CVD phenotyping, multi-layered -omics and rich sociocultural data to fill these neglected scientific gaps in our current understanding of ADRD in diverse Latinos.