Center for AD/ADRD Population Aging and Social Studies (CAPAS)

University Of Texas Hlth Science Center, San Antonio TX

Investigators

Abstract

Hispanics/Latinos are one of the largest demographics of older adults in the country, growing faster than any other major one. Moreover, Latinos’ aging experiences are highly heterogeneous, structured by socioeconomic and cultural orientations, and other life course experiences that will shift continuously. While Hispanics have longer life expectancies than non-Hispanic whites, their earlier onset of many age-related chronic diseases, including Alzheimer’s Diseases and Related Dementias (AD/ADRD), results in longer lives with cognitive impairment and a higher caregiving burden for Latinos. Yet, many of the socioeconomic and biosocial factors and pathways behind this deterioration are unknown and understudied. Critical barriers to advancing the understanding of Latino AD/ADRD include: lack of integrated expertise on social, neuropsychological, and biological processes; relative shortage of trained investigators with interest in disparities in ADRD using a population aging, social determinants of health perspective; little knowledge of and difficulty in accessing data sources that support population based, life course approaches to Hispanic ADRD; and limited dissemination of research related to Hispanic AD/ADRD among scientific and lay communities, regulatory agencies, and policymakers. To narrow these gaps, The University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio and the University of Texas in San Antonio bring together multidisciplinary groups of experts and research networks in Hispanic demography, sociology, AD/ADRD epidemiology, neuropsychology, population economics, public health disparities, and experience conducting longitudinal studies for AD/ADRD research and Hispanic aging to form the new San Antonio Center for AD/ADRD Population Aging and Social Studies (CAPAS). The themes of the 6-year program emphasize the unique attributes of the Hispanic life course in the United States and abroad that yield disparities in protective and risk factors for AD/ADRD in old age. The research foci include resilience, caregiving, social networks support, neighborhood contexts, environmental and occupational exposures, migration history, and cross-national networks, among others. The center has the following specific aims: 1) To support and accelerate cutting-edge social science, population-based ADRD-related Hispanic aging research through a program of pilot projects for emerging scholars, and pilot projects for established investigators to integrate innovations to their ongoing research. 2) To develop a larger pipeline of Hispanic ADRD population aging research scholars with strong integrated socio-neuropsychological and/or biosocial expertise through a program of targeted mentoring and professional networking. 3) To improve the dissemination of population-based data to conduct research on Hispanic ADRD among the scientific community, and a program of dedicated bilingual communications to enhance awareness of ADRD research among lay communities. The center is organized into three cores: Administrative and Research Support core, Development (pilots) core, and Communication & Dissemination core.