# Preserving Cognitive Resilience:  A Biracial Parent-Offspring Study

> **NIH NIH R01** · RUSH UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · 2022 · $2,843,144

## Abstract

Preserving cognitive resilience in old age can prevent loss of cognition in old age. Given the long prodromal
phase of cognitive loss, the significance of identifying midlife risk factors of late-life cognitive resilience may
lead to better preventive strategies in the general population. The higher prevalence and incidence of
Alzheimer's disease (AD) in the minority populations, especially African Americans, makes studying resilience
in this population of high public health significance. Three areas of focus – neuroimaging biomarkers, cognitive
tests, and CVD risk factors in midlife will provide a better understanding of midlife factors that may be related to
late-life cognitive resilience. We aim to enroll 750 offspring whose parents were participants in the CHAP
biracial population study with the following primary objective – to test if higher parental cognitive resilience is
associated with less MRI evidence of white matter, hippocampal, and cortical gray matter injury in the
offspring, and to test if these associations are different by race/ethnicity and gender groups. One of the aims of
the study is to identify the contributions of putative risk and protective factors over life span on cognitive
resilience in the 10,342 participants in the parent CHAP study. No new data will be collected in the Parent
Cohort. The second and third aims are to examine the relation of MRI neuroimaging biomarkers with cognitive
tests and carotid femoral pulse wave velocity and systolic BP in the offspring cohort, and examine if these
relationships are stronger among offspring whose parents have higher cognitive resilience, by race/ethnicity,
gender, and by the APOE E4 allele. Such an intergenerational approach to cognitive resilience in a biracial
population sample to study cognitive resilience is novel and provides a unique opportunity to improve our
understanding of cognitive resilience across generations of Americans. This study also has the potential to
make a large public health impact in potentially identifying early, mid, and late life factors of cognitive resilience
leading to better preventive strategies in midlife.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10064983
- **Project number:** 5R01AG058679-04
- **Recipient organization:** RUSH UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** DENIS A EVANS
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $2,843,144
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-03-01 → 2025-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10064983

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10064983, Preserving Cognitive Resilience:  A Biracial Parent-Offspring Study (5R01AG058679-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10064983. Licensed CC0.

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