# Subjective Cognitive Decline in OIder Adults

> **NIH NIH R01** · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · 2021 · $831,698

## Abstract

As the population continues to age, the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and AD-related dementias
(ADRD) is dramatically increasing, resulting in an urgent need to identify at-risk older adults. Effective early
identification will occur during the preclinical stages of disease, before the onset of clinically overt symptoms.
Subjective cognitive decline (SCD) can represent a preclinical and early disease state that is easily captured in
clinical and research settings. SCD is driven by multiple pathological pathways, including AD,
neurodegeneration, and cerebral small vessel disease, all of which underlie clinical dementia. Neuropsychiatric
symptoms also contribute to SCD and represent early symptoms and a risk for dementia. Current SCD
assessment methods lack the specificity to tease apart the underlying etiology of SCD. Tool development has
focused on the content of the questions, rather than identifying questions that relate to specific underlying
contributors. Additionally, minimal investigation exists understanding the interplay of these mechanisms on the
presence of SCD. The majority of research has thus far focused on SCD in relation to a singular pathological
process. These approaches to assess definition and tool development limit the specificity of SCD. This study
will leverage legacy data from the Vanderbilt Memory & Aging Project, a longitudinal study with a subset of
individuals who are cognitively unimpaired and have minimal SCD. To supplement this cohort with an
expanded range of SCD and neuropsychiatric symptoms, this proposal will enroll a prospective longitudinal
cohort of cognitively unimpaired older adults with a range of SCD. Participants will undergo detailed
assessments of cognition, neuroimaging, and lumbar puncture to capture multiple clinical and pathological
markers. Leveraging this rich information, the study will shift how SCD items are selected and using feature
selection methods will identify questions that relate to each SCD contributor to create profiles that SCD.
Modifiers of these profiles will be examined, including age, sex, and concomitant pathologies. The delivery of
these novel SCD profiles will enhance the utility of this cost effective and easily measurable early disease
marker that can be easily implemented by clinicians and researchers.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10104418
- **Project number:** 5R01AG062826-02
- **Recipient organization:** VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Katherine A. Gifford
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $831,698
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-02-15 → 2025-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10104418

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10104418, Subjective Cognitive Decline in OIder Adults (5R01AG062826-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10104418. Licensed CC0.

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