# OLFACTORY IMPAIRMENT IN OFFSPRING STUDY OF RACIAL DISPARITIES IN ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE

> **NIH NIH R01** · COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · 2022 · $353,236

## Abstract

We plan to test the 12-item BSIT, a short, standardized, cross-culturally validated subset of the 40-item
University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT), in an add-on study to the recently funded project
“Offspring study of mechanisms for racial disparities in Alzheimer's disease” (RF1 AG054070). Middle-aged
offspring (age 40-64) of parents who participated in the Washington Heights Inwood Columbia Aging Project
(WHICAP) are being studied with clinical and neuropsychological evaluation (n=3,000), high-resolution
structural MRI (n=1,000), and Aβ PET (n=150). In the years 2004-2010, over one-third (n=1,369) of the
intensively studied parent cohort had odor identification testing with the full 40-item UPSIT.
 Odor identification impairment distinguishes dementia from cognitively intact controls, predicts transition
from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to dementia, and predicts cognitive decline in older adults without
dementia better than episodic verbal memory deficits. Further, odor identification impairment has been
associated with increased mortality even after controlling for dementia and medical comorbidity in older adults,
and in this offspring study, mortality will become an important outcome if longitudinal follow-up is instituted
eventually. In the proposed cross-sectional study, we hypothesize that in the cohort of 3,000 offspring, lower
BSIT scores (impaired odor identification) will be associated with increased age and the apolipoprotein E ε4
allele, and correlate with impaired cognitive ability in Whites (increased incipient AD pathology) to a greater
extent than in African Americans or Hispanics (increased incipient cerebrovascular pathology). In the 1,000
offspring that get MRI brain scans, we expect that lower BSIT scores will be associated with smaller
hippocampal volume and cortical thinning in Whites but not African Americans or Hispanics. In the 150
offspring that get amyloid PET scans, lower BSIT scores are anticipated to be associated with greater amyloid
uptake among Whites, but not among African Americans or Hispanics. We will also evaluate BSIT in the
offspring in relation to parental BSIT performance and risk of AD in the parents. We have begun pilot work in
administering the BSIT to the first 300 offspring being studied, and expect to be able to assess all study
participants with the BSIT, without loss of any BSIT data, if this proposal is funded. Our overarching goal is to
identify priority biological or social factors for intervention during the preclinical stage of AD, and determine
whether strategies to prevent AD should differ across race/ethnicity. Adding odor identification testing furthers
these goals in the existing project and allows for the testing of specific hypotheses that will enhance our
understanding of the associations and potential utility of this inexpensive early biomarker of AD.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10439609
- **Project number:** 5R01AG058767-05
- **Recipient organization:** COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES
- **Principal Investigator:** DAVANGERE P DEVANAND
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $353,236
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-09-01 → 2024-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10439609

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10439609, OLFACTORY IMPAIRMENT IN OFFSPRING STUDY OF RACIAL DISPARITIES IN ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE (5R01AG058767-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10439609. Licensed CC0.

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