# HRS Yrs 29-34: Heavy Metal Exposures Supplement

> **NIH NIH U01** · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR · 2022 · $788,555

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (AD/ADRD) are a growing public health burden and understanding
the causes of AD/ADRD is a national priority. Environmental factors, such as metals exposure, are an
understudied area of the exposome, and may contribute to higher risk of cognitive impairment and AD/ADRD.
Prospective longitudinal data on incident AD/ADRD, as available in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS),
provide the best outcome measures to pair with measures of exposure. This supplemental proposal aims to
add to the rich HRS data on longitudinal contextual and socioeconomic risk factors for AD/ADRD by directly
measuring blood heavy metals concentrations in 13,500 participants, and share the data with the research
community using established HRS data-sharing systems to enable examination of associations with incident
AD/ADRD. We will use energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) to measure lead, cadmium, mercury
and arsenic in repository dried blood spots (DBS) from 2006-2012 (N=13,500) and use cutting edge methods
to identify metal mixture patterns. We will also calibrate DBS EDXRF measurements with venous blood gold
standard methods in a unique sample of persons with both DBS and venous blood taken in 2016 (N=1,500).
The completion of this supplement will generate one of the largest, representative and racially diverse studies
of heavy metals and AD/ADRD to date, and significantly increase the resources available to researchers from
multiple disciplines to better identify the impact of metals exposure on AD/ADRD risk.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10657855
- **Project number:** 3U01AG009740-33S5
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR
- **Principal Investigator:** DAVID R. WEIR
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $788,555
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 1990-09-25 → 2023-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10657855

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10657855, HRS Yrs 29-34: Heavy Metal Exposures Supplement (3U01AG009740-33S5). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10657855. Licensed CC0.

---

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