# Administrative Supplement Request to Lifespan Cardiovascular Risk Exposures and Alzheimer-related Brain Health

> **NIH NIH RF1** · TULANE UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA · 2020 · $369,440

## Abstract

Sudden changes in cardiovascular (CV) risk factors, especially diet quality, physical activity attainment, and
sleep hygiene, commonly accompany acute medical events such as surgeries among middle aged and older
adults. These sudden changes are associated with poorer long-term cognitive and brain outcomes. The Covid-
19 pandemic caused a different version of sudden change: large numbers of healthy adults became confined to
the home for extended periods of time, changed their patterns of food shopping, restaurant eating, sports and
exercise engagement, and sleep due to home confinement orders and their lingering after-effects. The Covid19
pandemic is promoting a new and different form of sudden change in CV and lifestyle factors, the health
impacts of which are not clear. Our immediate goal in this supplement is to rigorously assess the extent of
sudden CV risk factor changes associated with the Covid-19 pandemic, with a long-term goal of assessing
relationships between such cardiovascular changes and cognitive and brain changes in a large epidemiological
cohort. This supplement will use validated technologies to objectively assess Covid-19-related changes to diet,
physical activity, and sleep among black and white men and women in mid-life who have participated in the
Bogalusa Heart Study (BHS) participants, and already consented to longitudinal assessment of CV risk factors,
brain outcomes, and cognitive outcomes via their enrollment in the parent grant (RO1 AG041200). We will
provide 250 BHS participants with wrist-worn accelerometers capable of assessing sleep quality and physical
activity attainment (ActiGraph WGT3X+) as well as Remote Food Photography Methods© implemented via a
smartphone application (the SmartIntake® app). Physical activity and sleep quality will be objectively
measured over a 7-day period, and food intake over a 4-day period. This data, together with previous
assessments of diet, physical activity, and sleep quality from earlier sweeps through the cohort, will position us
to calibrate and analyze changes in these three CV risk factors due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This data will
position us to assess effects of such sudden CV risk changes on cognitive and brain outcomes, as well as race
disparities in this association, to clarify the long-term public health impact of pandemic-related lifestyle
changes. The data collected by this supplement efficiently leverages the parent grant (focused on CV risks and
brain outcomes) in a population with substantial minority representation (35% African-American) and could
identify targets for a novel lifestyle intervention to be rapidly deployed and scaled in a future pandemic as a
way to preserve health. Leveraging the long-standing NIH investment in the Bogalusa Heart Study is the
optimal approach for investigating the effects of pandemic-related sudden CV risk factor changes on cognitive
and brain health.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10185417
- **Project number:** 3RF1AG041200-06S1
- **Recipient organization:** TULANE UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
- **Principal Investigator:** Lydia Bazzano
- **Activity code:** RF1 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $369,440
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2012-09-01 → 2024-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10185417

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10185417, Administrative Supplement Request to Lifespan Cardiovascular Risk Exposures and Alzheimer-related Brain Health (3RF1AG041200-06S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10185417. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*