The Health & Aging Brain among Latino Elders (HABLE) study methods and participant characteristics

Abstract

Introduction Mexican Americans remain severely underrepresented in Alzheimer's disease (AD) research. The Health & Aging Brain among Latino Elders (HABLE) study was created to fill important gaps in the existing literature. Methods Community‐dwelling Mexican Americans and non‐Hispanic White adults and elders (age 50 and above) were recruited. All participants underwent comprehensive assessments including an interview, functional exam, clinical labs, informant interview, neuropsychological testing, and 3T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain. Amyloid and tau positron emission tomography (PET) scans were added at visit 2. Blood samples were stored in the Biorepository. Results Data was examined from n = 1705 participants. Significant group differences were found in medical, demographic, and sociocultural factors. Cerebral amyloid and neurodegeneration imaging markers were significantly different between Mexican Americans and non‐Hispanic Whites. Discussion The current data provide strong support for continued investigations that examine the risk factors for and biomarkers of AD among diverse populations.

The Link between APOE4 Presence and Neuropsychological Test Performance among Mexican Americans and Non-Hispanic Whites of the Multiethnic Health & Aging Brain Study – Health Disparities Cohort

“…The HABS-HD (formally the Health & Aging Brain study among Latino Elders, HABLE study) study is an ongoing, longitudinal, community-based project examining health disparities in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and AD among Hispanic, MAs as compared to NHWs [6,[15][16][17] with recent expansion to enroll African Americans. HABS-HD methods have been published elsewhere [6] and are briefly outlined below. The data included in this study encompass MA and NHW participants since the recruitment of the African-American participants is ongoing.…”

“…For example, 83% of the current participants in the National Institute of Aging (NIA) Alzheimer’s Disease Centers database [4] and 90% of the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative database are non-Hispanic White (NHW) [5]. However, our team has shown that MAs experience cognitive loss at significantly younger ages than NHWs and are often diagnosed at more advance stages of AD [6, 7]. To date, the underlying factors contributing to these health disparities remains limited.…”

“…When examining the link between APOEε4 allele and cognitive test performance among older Hispanics residing in New Mexico, Romero and colleagues found no cross-sectional association; however, APOEε4 carriers demonstrated increased time on color Trails A and decreased total recall on the Fuld Object-Memory test over a 3-year period [14]. Here, we examined the link between APOEε4 allele presence and baseline neuropsychological test scores among MAs and NHWs of the community-based, multiethnic Health & Aging Brain Study – Health Disparities (HABS-HD) cohort [6, 15-17].…”

Plasma Total Tau and Neurobehavioral Symptoms of Cognitive Decline in Cognitively Normal Older Adults

“…A 409 cognitively normal Mexican Americans (323 females, 86 males) and 129 cognitively normal non-Hispanic whites (91 females, 38 males) made up the sample. A full description of the HABLE protocol has been published elsewhere (O'Bryant et al, 2021). Briefly, the HABLE study protocol includes a functional exam, blood draw, neuroimaging, clinical labs, interview (medical history, family medical history, and sociocultural factors), neuropsychological testing and the assessment of neuropsychiatric symptoms.…”

APOEε4 Genotype Is Related to Brain Amyloid Among Mexican Americans in the HABS-HD Study

“…In the GERAS-US Cohort study, Hispanics had lower rates of amyloid positive status ( 15 ). In our preliminary data from the HABS-HD study, amyloid positivity rates were lower among Mexican Americans as compared to non-Hispanic white participants across all cognitive diagnostic groups ( 16 ). Therefore, many clinically diagnosed AD individuals using established clinical criteria ( 17 , 18 ) may result in assignment of AD that will not agree with biological assignment if that data were available.…”