Social support moderates association between area deprivation index and changes in physical health among adults in the Baltimore Study of Black Aging (BSBA).

Despite the association of neighborhood quality with poorer adult health, limited research has explored the association between neighborhood disadvantage, e.g. Area Deprivation Index (ADI), and older Black adults' health, prospectively.

Effects of Cognitive Training on Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias: The Moderating Role of Social Determinants of Health.

We examined whether social determinants of health (SDoH) are associated with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) risk and the effects of cognitive training over a 20-year follow-up period. Data were obtained from 1605 participants in ACTIVE. SDoH measures were created using baseline data at the individual and neighborhood level.

Associations Between Body Mass Index and Cognitive Change in the ACTIVE Study: Variations by Race and Social Determinants of Health.

The current study examines relationships between Body Mass Index (BMI) and cognitive performance and change in processing speed, memory, and reasoning, while accounting for variations by race and the influence of social determinants of health. Secondary data analysis of the Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly (ACTIVE) study, which included participants who self-identified as African American or Black ( = 728) and White ( = 2028). Latent growth curve modeling was used to assess study aims.

Changes in Body Mass Index and Incident Mild Cognitive Impairment Among African American Older Adults.

Background: Previous research suggests a decline in body mass index (BMI) among older adults is associated with negative health outcomes, including mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and incident dementia. However, no studies have examined the effects of education or developing MCI on BMI trajectories over time. The purpose of this investigation was to characterize trajectories of change in BMI among older adults who develop MCI.

Differential Associations Between the Area Deprivation Index and Measures of Physical Health for Older Black Adults.

Objectives: This study explored the association between place-based characteristics (e.g., neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation) and physical health within older Black adults, a critical gap in the literature as identified by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities.

Contextualizing the racial gradient in covid-19 outcomes: Narratives from HBCU students.

COVID-19 spread across the nation with Black Americans experiencing twice of the prevalence of deaths than White Americans. Black American college students are facing a unique set of biopsychosocial costs including less retention and poorer mental health. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine how Historically Black College or University (HBCU) students contextualize COVID-19.

Acute versus chronic inflammatory markers and cognition in older black adults: Results from the Minority Aging Research Study.

Peripheral inflammation is elevated in older Black adults, an elevation which prior work has suggested may be due to chronic stress associated with systemic racism and related adverse cardiovascular health conditions. Inflammation is also involved in the pathogenic processes of dementia; however, limited (and mixed) results exist concerning inflammation and cognitive decline in Black adults. We characterized patterns of inflammation and their role in cognitive decline in 280 older Black adults (age = 72.

Subjective memory, objective memory, and race over a 10-year period: Findings from the ACTIVE study.

The longitudinal associations between subjective and objective memory functioning in later life remain unclear. This may be due, in part, to sociodemographic differences across studies, given the hypothesis that these associations differ across racial groups. Using data from the Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly (ACTIVE; N = 2,694; 26% African American), multiple-group, parallel-process latent growth curve models were used to explore relationships between subjective and objective memory over 10 years and assess racial differences in these associations.

Do Associations Between Vascular Risk and Mild Cognitive Impairment Vary by Race?

Given prevalence differences of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) among Black and white older adults, this study aimed to examine whether overall vascular risk factor (VRF) burden and individual VRF associations with amnestic (aMCI) and nonamnestic (naMCI) MCI status varied by Black/white race. Participants included 2755 older adults without dementia from the ACTIVE study. Comprehensive neuropsychological criteria were used to classify cognitively normal, aMCI, and naMCI.

Changes in Body Mass Index Are Related to Faster Cognitive Decline Among African American Older Adults.

Background/objectives: The purpose of this study was to: (1) examine relationships between body mass index (BMI) stability and cognitive decline in older African Americans; and (2) investigate differences in the relationships between women and men.

Design: The present study is a secondary data analysis of the Minority Aging Research Study, which is a longitudinal, cohort study of risk factors for cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease among older African Americans living in the Chicago, IL, area. The study entails annual clinical evaluations, including measures of 19 neuropsychological tests that represent five cognitive domains, including episodic, semantic, and working memory, perceptual speed, and visuospatial ability.

Stability and Change in Cognitive Status Classification of Black Older Adults.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine whether stability and change in cognitive status are associated with sociodemographic characteristics and health function.

Design: Secondary analysis of data.

Setting: Baltimore Study of Black Aging-Patterns of Cognitive Aging.

Sleep and Pain in Mid- to Late-Life: An Exploration of Day-to-Day Pain Inconsistency.

Objectives: This study examined how different quantifications of pain (average vs. day-to-day inconsistency) are related to sleep in older adults beyond known predictors.

Methods: Baseline measures from the Active Adult Mentoring Project were used for secondary analyses.

The Association between Subjective Memory Complaints and Sleep within Older African American Adults.

Objective: The purpose of the current study is to examine the association between subjective memory complaints and sleep (quantity and quality) in African American older adults.

Method: Participants from the Baltimore Study of Black Aging (BSBA; n = 351; mean age = 71.99) completed a self-report sleep scale, subjective memory complaint scale, global cognitive status measure, and demographic questionnaire.

Perceptions of Chronic Disease Among Older African Americans: A Qualitative Analysis.

Research has documented that African Americans suffer disproportionately from chronic diseases when compared to the general population. Yet, limited research examines older African Americans' perceptions about having chronic diseases. Accordingly, the first aim of the study provided insight into this disparity with the intent of revealing how older African Americans feel about their overall health, and how much they understand about their individual chronic disease(s).

Perceived Control Predicts Pulse Pressure in African American Men: The Baltimore Study of Black Aging.

Objective: Poorer health profiles among African American men throughout the life course evince greater rates of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and significantly earlier mortality compared with other groups. Despite growing emphasis on identifying how psychosocial factors influence disparate disease risk, little of this research has focused intently on African American men.

Methodology: Using hierarchical linear regression, we explored the additive influence of stress, depression, and perceived control on pulse pressure, an established marker of CVD risk, in a sample (N = 153) of African American men (mean age = 66.

Intervention markers of physical activity maintenance in older adults.

Objectives: To identify intervention components that may promote longterm changes of physical activity among older adults in a behavioral theory-based physical activity trial.

Methods: Participants (N = 24; aged 65 ± 8.79 years) shared perceptions of intervention components at the end of the intervention and physical activity was assessed at 18 months.

Stress, longevity and cardiovascular outcomes among African American families in the Jackson Heart Study.

Objective: Little is known about the relationship between family longevity, stress, and CVD in African Americans.

Methodology: Data consisted of 3274 participants aged ≥ 50 years with information on parental living status, the three indicators of stress, and cardiovascular health from the Jackson Heart Study (JHS).

Results: Those with both parents dead had significantly fewer life events than those with mother alive but father dead and those with both parents alive.

Associations between self-rated health and personality.

Objective: The goal of our study was to examine how Big Five personality factors predict variability in self-rated health in a sample of older African Americans from the Baltimore Study of Black Aging.

Methods: Personality was measured by the NEO Personality Inventory-Revised, and self-rated health was assessed by the Health Problems Checklist.

Participants: The study sample had 202 women and 87 men.

Education Desegregation and Cognitive Change in African American Older Adults.

Objectives: The present study examined the relationship between desegregated schooling and cognitive change in a sample of 420 community-dwelling African American elders (mean age = 68.6; SD = 9.1).

Cognition and health in African American men.

Objective: Despite high rates of poor health outcomes, little attention has been focused on associations between prominent health factors and cognitive function in African American men, exclusively. The objective was to examine relationships between cardiovascular and pulmonary health, and cognitive function in African American men.

Method: Data from 257 men were pooled from two studies of African American aging.

Sleep complaints in older blacks: do demographic and health indices explain poor sleep quality and duration?

Objective: To examine the relationship between measures of sleep quality and the presence of commonly encountered comorbid and sociodemographic conditions in elderly Black subjects.

Method: Analyses included participants from the Baltimore Study of Black Aging (BSBA; n = 450; mean age 71.43 years; SD 9.

A review of our roots: blacks in gerontology.

The historical underpinnings in the field of gerontology rest on the contributions of scholars across a myriad of racial and ethnic backgrounds. With the increasing diversity of the adult population, there is a need to increase the number of researchers who study older adults from diverse racial and ethnic populations in general and Black elderly people in particular. Furthermore, it is important to document the participation of Black older adults in our earliest and continuing research efforts.