# Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD) Prevention and Research among Middle Age Latinas residing in an Underserved Agricultural Community

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · 2021 · $86,621

## Abstract

Summary or abstract of the funded grant or project.
The parent grant project aims to understand the unique and combined impacts of social and environmental
factors on ADRDs risk and relevant mechanisms. We propose to leverage a well-established cohort from The
Center for the Health Assessment of Mothers and Children of Salinas (CHAMACOS) study of approximately 550
Latina women who are entering mid-life (mean = 47 years old). To study the associations between social
adversity, pesticide exposures, and ADRDs risk among Latinos, our Specific Aims are:
1. To quantify associations between early and mid-life social adversity and cognitive performance
 among mid-life Latina women and the extent to which these associations are explained by
 cardiometabolic and inflammatory mechanisms. Informed by the life course perspective, we
 hypothesize that early and mid-life adversity will each independently contribute to poorer cognitive
 outcomes, but that women who experience both will be most cognitive disadvantaged in mid-life. We also
 expect that cardio-metabolic risk factors and inflammation will partially mediate any observed
associations.
2. To estimate associations between agricultural pesticide exposure and cognitive performance and
 to evaluate whether social adversity and pesticide exposure interact to produce poorer cognitive
 outcomes among mid-life Latina women. We hypothesize that pesticide exposure, evaluated via both
 area- level metrics and individual biomarkers, will adversely impact mid-life cognitive outcomes. Informed
 by an exposure-stress-disease framework, we further hypothesize that pesticide exposure and social
 adversity will combine to produce poorer cognitive outcomes.
3. To evaluate relationships between life course social adversity, pesticide exposure, and brain
 biomarkers among mid-life Latina women. We will measure total brain and regional volume and white
 matter hyper-intensities via magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) on a subset of 200 women. In exploratory
 analyses, we will also evaluate whether social adversity and/or pesticide exposure modify associations
 between brain structure, pathology, and cognitive performance.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10428025
- **Project number:** 3R01AG069090-02S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO
- **Principal Investigator:** Jacqueline Marie Torres
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $86,621
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2020-09-15 → 2025-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10428025

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10428025, Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD) Prevention and Research among Middle Age Latinas residing in an Underserved Agricultural Community (3R01AG069090-02S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10428025. Licensed CC0.

---

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