2024 Alzheimer's Association Clinical Scientist Fellowship to Promote Diversity (AACSF-D)
Cardiometabolic Risk Factors and Lewy Body Disease Symptom Progression
How do high blood pressure, obesity and other related health factors impact the progression of a common type of dementia?
Shellie-Anne Levy, Ph.D.
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL - United States
Background
According to the 2024 Alzheimer’s Association Facts and Figures report, older Black Americans are about twice as likely and older Hispanic Americans are about one and a half times as likely to develop dementia as older White Americans. This disparity may be due, in part, to a higher prevalence of “cardiometabolic” risk factors for dementia – factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity. One type of dementia, called Lewy body dementia (LBD), is particularly common in underserved communities. LBD is characterized by protein clumps in the brain known as Lewy bodies, and people with LBD can experience both cognitive decline (such as memory loss) and problems with movement. More research is needed on how cardiometabolic factors impact the progression of LBD in diverse individuals who have the disease.
Research Plan
Dr. Shellie-Anne Levy and colleagues will devote their research grant to a study of cardiometabolic risk factors and Lewy body dementia progression. For this effort, they will collect and analyze health data from about 1,800 diverse individuals who had LBD. This data will come from the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center’s Uniform Data Set (NACC-UDS), a large repository of health evaluations collected from Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers (ADRCs) around the country.
The researchers will analyze the data to determine how individual cardiometabolic risk factors promote cognitive decline and motor problems in LBD. They will also assess how possessing combinations of these risk factors may accelerate the progression of LBD symptoms. Dr. Levy and team will measure the amount of cerebrovascular (brain blood vessel) disease in NACC-UDS data, and identify links between brain blood vessel disease and LBD severity and progression. Lastly, the investigators will examine how the relationship between LBD progression and cardiometabolic or cerebrovascular risk factors differ among people of different ethnic groups: Black Americans, Hispanic Americans and non-Hispanic Whites.
Impact
Findings from this study could shed new light on the factors underlying disparities in dementia risk in Black and Hispanic communities. They could also lead to similar studies of other dementias, such as Parkinson’s Disease, that have been under-researched in these communities. Ultimately, such work could lead to novel methods of treating dementias in populations most affected by these diseases.