{"id":8051,"date":"2022-11-01T20:19:54","date_gmt":"2022-11-01T20:19:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nau.edu\/sherc\/?page_id=8051"},"modified":"2025-08-12T20:40:22","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T20:40:22","slug":"supplement-adrd-american-indians","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/sherc\/supplement-adrd-american-indians\/","title":{"rendered":"Supplement\u2013 The Baakalaaxdeete (To have good memory) Study of Risk and Protective Factors for ADRD among American Indians Across the Life Span"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Baakalaaxdeete (To have good memory) Study of Risk and Protective Factors for ADRD among American Indians Across the Life Span<\/h1>\n

Project Description<\/h3>\n

More than 6 million individuals in the U.S. live with Alzheimer\u2019s disease and related dementia (ADRD), and this number is projected to increase to more than 15 million by 2060.<\/p>\n

Approximately 35% of American Indian\/Alaska Natives (AI\/AN) and 30% of Whites over the age of 65 are predicted to be diagnosed with ADRD over the next 25 years.\u00a0 AI\/AN\u2019s have a high prevalence of midlife modifiable risk factors such as diabetes, hearing loss, traumatic brain injury, hypertension, alcohol, obesity, smoking, and depression.<\/p>\n

Despite the high incidence (21%) of early cognitive decline\u2014a precursor to dementia in AI\/AN older adults\u2014more than one-third of AI\/AN (35%) have reported a low concern about developing dementia. Also, research on the association between early and midlife conditions and cognition at an older age in the AI\/AN population is not well established.<\/p>\n

Understanding the extent to which early and midlife conditions influence cognitive aging through midlife health behavior and modifiable risk factors is essential to improving the early detection of ADRD in the AI\/AN population.<\/p>\n

Several risk prediction models and indices for dementia have been developed and validated in White or non-AI\/AN populations and used in clinical practice for early detection to start early intervention. However, those existing risk prediction models have not been designed or validated specifically for AI\/AN older adults.<\/p>\n

Additionally, past dementia risk prediction models have been criticized for not capturing protective factors such as cultural values, spirituality, and family cohesion and certain behavioral practices pertinent to AI\/AN due to over-reliance on quantitative data and poor internal and external validations in the AI\/AN population. Therefore, the clinical utility of these prediction models in the AI\/AN adults is significantly limited.<\/p>\n

We propose to mitigate both conditions by developing a culturally sensitive AI\/AN risk prediction model.<\/p>\n

We will conduct a longitudinal analysis of data from the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS) linked with Medicare enrollment data to develop an American Indian Dementia index (AIDi). That index will be supplemented and culturally validated using the RARE (Rapid Assessment, Response and Evaluation) methodology to identify protective and risk factors, cultural attributes, and community-based perceptions of ADRD that impact early intervention efforts.<\/p>\n

The long-term goal of this study is to improve early detection of dementia in AI\/AN, an important step toward enhancing preventive care in a vulnerable population.<\/p>\n

Our goals through the study are:<\/p>\n

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Specific Aims<\/h3>\n

Develop and validate AIDi for American Indians aged 65 and older, using the NHATS and Medicare-linked data from 2011-2020.<\/p>\n

Determine the community perceptions of the unique protective and risk factors, needs, assets, and resources of tribal community members regarding ADRD and healthy brain initiatives using the RARE approach to culturally validate the AIDi, and to provide community engaged cultural models for later program development.<\/p>\n

The long-term goal of this study is to develop culture-based, multi-system healthy brain initiatives for AI\/AN adults and families that recognize the unique needs and assets of these populations.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

Study title:<\/strong> The Baakalaaxdeete (To have good memory) Study of Risk and Protective Factors for ADRD among American Indians Across the Life Span
\nFunding:<\/strong> This study was funded by NIMHD\/NIH 3U54MD012388-05S3<\/p>\n

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About the investigators<\/h2>\n
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Julie Baldwin, PhD<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
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Principal Investigator, SHERC<\/strong><\/div>\n
Administrative Core Lead<\/strong><\/div>\n
Recruitment Core Lead<\/strong><\/div>\n
Principal Investigator, SHERC Administrative Supplements<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Director, Center for Community Health and Engaged Research (CHER)<\/div>\n
Regents’ Professor, Department of Health Sciences<\/div>\n
Email:<\/strong> Julie.Baldwin@nau.edu<\/a><\/div>\n
Phone:<\/strong> 928-523-6566<\/a><\/div>\n
Research interests: <\/strong>Community-based participatory research, HIV\/AIDS & substance abuse prevention, chronic disease prevention, diverse & rural populations<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Amit Kumar, PhD<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
Co-Investigator<\/strong><\/div>\n
Consultant<\/div>\n
Research interests: <\/strong>Quality of care and health care disparities, impact of patient and provider incentives on quality and equity of care, clinical epidemiology, population health<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Indrakshi Roy, PhD<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
Co-Investigator<\/strong><\/div>\n
Biostatistician<\/div>\n
Center for Community Health and Engaged Research<\/div>\n
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Email:<\/strong> Indrakshi.Roy@nau.edu<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Research interests: <\/strong>Healthy aging, gerontology, minority populations and policy implications. Experience in working with large data sets that implement complex survey designs, multivariate models, multinomial regression models, multilevel modeling using STATA,R and SAS<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\"Robert<\/a><\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Robert Trotter, PhD<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
Co-Investigator<\/strong><\/div>\n
Regents’ Professor Emeritus<\/div>\n
Email:<\/strong> Robert.Trotter@nau.edu<\/a><\/div>\n
Research interests: <\/strong>Ethnographic research design and methods, community based participatory design, social network analysis, qualitative sampling reliability and validity, health care systems research, cross-cultural applicability research design<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Taylor Lane, PhD<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
Research Scientist<\/strong><\/div>\n
Email:<\/strong> Taylor.Lane@nau.edu<\/a><\/div>\n
Research interests:\u00a0<\/strong><\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Grant Sears, MPH<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
Research Coordinator<\/strong><\/div>\n
Email:<\/strong> Grant.Sears@vcuhealth.org<\/div>\n
Research interests:<\/strong> Community-based participatory research, COVID-19 outreach and education, substance use and abuse education, health equity<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Baakalaaxdeete (To have good memory) Study of Risk and Protective Factors for ADRD among American Indians Across the Life Span Project Description More than 6 million individuals in the U.S. live with Alzheimer\u2019s disease and related dementia (ADRD), and this number is projected to increase to more than 15 million by 2060. Approximately 35% […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":286,"featured_media":7855,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ring_central_script_selection":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-8051","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/sherc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/sherc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/sherc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/sherc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/286"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/sherc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8051"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/sherc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8051\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9754,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/sherc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8051\/revisions\/9754"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/sherc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/sherc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}