# Longitudinal Biological Pathways Leading to Alzheimer's Disease Health Disparities in Blacks

> **NIH NIH R03** · UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA IN TUSCALOOSA · 2020 · $71,672

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Blacks are more than twice as likely to develop dementia than Whites. However, controlling for
many of the factors that put Blacks at greater risk, such as having less education and lower
occupational status, does not eliminate these health disparities. Therefore, other race-related
factors underlie the increased risk for dementia, including Alzheimer's disease (AD). One
possibility is that multiple levels of chronic stress found uniquely in Blacks, exacerbate these
health disparities. As outlined by the NIA's Health Disparities Research Framework, these
stressors stem from environmental factors such as residential segregation, sociocultural factors
such as racism, and behavioral factors such as one's perceived control. It is clear that these
types of stressors negatively impact mental health, but a large gap exists between a) these
generalized stressors, b) neurobiological pathways, and c) a diagnosis of AD in Blacks.
Because AD is a brain disease, this knowledge gap can be illuminated by understanding the
biological progression from “normal” to AD in Blacks. According to the neurotoxicity hypothesis,
prolonged exposure to stress increases the brain's vulnerability to pathological toxins and
reduces the brain's ability to resist subtle brain damage. Thus, unique race-related stressors
might lead to a brain environment that is more vulnerable to AD pathology (beta-amyloid and
tau) and accelerates declines in brain structure and the associated cognitive declines that lead
to AD in Blacks compared with Whites. By harmonizing data from the National Alzheimer's
Coordinating Center and the Minority Aging Research Study, secondary analyses will be
conducted to analyze the biological pathways that create and sustain race-related health
disparities in AD. We will use multi-level model regression techniques to test the extent that 1)
rates of longitudinal declines in cortical thickness will be associated with greater cognitive
decline in Blacks than Whites and 2) rates of longitudinal declines in hippocampal volumes and
a novel measure of hippocampal complexity will be associated with greater cognitive decline in
Blacks than Whites. Addressing whether Blacks are more vulnerable to longitudinal cognitive
decline through different neurodegenerative pathways than Whites would lead to a theoretical
framework that would provide testable hypotheses of causes of these potential vulnerabilities
(like racial stressors).

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9848482
- **Project number:** 5R03AG059188-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA IN TUSCALOOSA
- **Principal Investigator:** Ian McDonough
- **Activity code:** R03 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $71,672
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-02-01 → 2022-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9848482

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9848482, Longitudinal Biological Pathways Leading to Alzheimer's Disease Health Disparities in Blacks (5R03AG059188-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9848482. Licensed CC0.

---

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