A blood screening tool for detecting mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease among community‐dwelling Mexican Americans and non‐Hispanic Whites: A method for increasing representation of diverse populations in clinical research

Abstract

Introduction: Representation of Mexican Americans in Alzheimer's disease (AD) clinical research has been extremely poor. Methods: Data were examined from the ongoing community-based, multi-ethnic Health & Aging Brain among Latino Elders (HABLE) study. Participants underwent functional exams, clinical labs, neuropsychological testing, and 3T magnetic resonance imaging of the brain. Fasting proteomic markers were examined for predicting mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and AD using support vector machine models.Results: Data were examined from n = 1649 participants (Mexican American n = 866; non-Hispanic White n = 783). Proteomic profiles were highly accurate in detecting MCI (area under the curve [AUC] = 0.91) and dementia (AUC = 0.95). The proteomic profiles varied significantly between ethnic groups and disease state. Negative predictive value was excellent for ruling out MCI and dementia across ethnic groups.

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.…”

“…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].…”

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

“…The current work provides important additional information to the current literature. Our team has demonstrated that significant differences exist with regards to biomarkers of AD among Mexican Americans as compared to non-Hispanic white participants ( 16 , 24 – 26 , 36 ). In fact, we have shown that Mexican Americans develop cognitive loss ( 16 ) and neurodegeneration ( 36 ) at significantly younger ages when compared to non-Hispanic white participants.…”

“…Data was analyzed from n = 105 Mexican American and n = 150 non-Hispanic white participants from the Health & Aging Brain Study – Health Disparities (HABS-HD; formally the Health & Aging Brain study among Latino Elders, HABLE study) that had undergone PET amyloid scans. HABS-HD study is an ongoing, longitudinal, community-based project examining health disparities in MCI and AD among Hispanic, Mexican Americans as compared to non-Hispanic white participants ( 16 , 24 – 26 ) with recent expansion and enrollment of African Americans. HABS-HD methods have been published elsewhere ( 16 ) and are briefly outlined below.…”

Kidney Function Impacts Plasma Alzheimer’s Biomarkers in a Cognitively Normal Multi- Ethnic Cohort

“…Despite these issues, Hispanic/Latino populations remain severely underrepresented in AD research 2,4,5 and clinical trials 6 . Our group has proposed that blood-based biomarkers may offer a means of increasing access to clinical research and clinical trials for underserved communities 7 .…”