# Structural inequality in employment as a pathway for gender disparities in ADRD

> **NIH NIH K01** · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $122,850

## Abstract

Project Summary
Women are more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) later in life. The gender
disparity can be partially explained by sex-related biological differences and women's longer life expectancy.
The remaining portion is ascribed to structural inequalities. Building on prior research, I hypothesize that
women's unequal access to employment has contributed to their cognitive disadvantage by restricting their
ability to cognitive enrichment through the life course and other valuable employment-related resources. The
proposed Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (K01) will give me protected time and resources to
undertake additional training in social determinants of ADRD, implementing quasi-experimental analytic
methods using life course data, and survey cognitive health assessment. I will also bolster my understanding of
the physiological underpinnings of ADRD to be able to pursue an interdisciplinary research agenda. Supported
by a team of highly accomplished mentors in neuroscience, psychology, gerontology, epidemiology, and
population health, I will carry out innovative and rigorous quasi-experimental studies that approach the
question of women's labor force disadvantage implications for cognitive disparities from a life course
perspective. First, I will use the Irish TILDA cohort to examine the effects of married women's labor force
exclusion on their cognitive outcomes later in life. Second, I will use UK's ELSA data to study the effects of the
introduction of paid and protected maternity leave on British women's cognitive outcomes later in life. Finally, I
will use American HRS data to evaluate the impact of women's earlier retirement on their cognitive outcomes
later in life. The datasets selected combine high-quality social, cognitive, and health data and rich life course
histories. The skills and expertise I will gain will put me in a strong position to make major contributions to our
understanding of structural determinants of disparities in cognitive health, become an independent NIH-funded
researcher, and lay the foundation of my new research program in employment, policy, and cognitive
disparities.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10808366
- **Project number:** 1K01AG081501-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Lucie Kalousova
- **Activity code:** K01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $122,850
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-07-15 → 2029-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10808366

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10808366, Structural inequality in employment as a pathway for gender disparities in ADRD (1K01AG081501-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10808366. Licensed CC0.

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