Micaela Ihorn
Pronouns: She/her
Research Mentor(s): Jonathan Reader
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Michigan Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center / Medicine
Program: UROPF
Session: Session 5 (2:40pm – 3:30pm)
Authors: Micaela Ihorn, Jonathan Reader
Abstract
Hispanic individuals may be at increased risk for developing early-onset Alzheimer’s disease (EOAD) compared to non-Hispanics, but there is a lack of research on potential correlates. While the relationship between mental health and cognition is well known in the general population, much less about this relationship is known for Hispanics. Indeed, the severity of anxiety and depression may play a significant role, particularly for Hispanics’ development of EOAD. Data for this study were obtained from the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center (NACC). Participants (N= 46,513) included 8.24% Hispanics (Mean Age = 71.41, SD = 10.43), 15.40% of whom identified as racial minorities (i.e.,most Hispanics identified their race as White/Caucasian). To analyze the data, version 4.2.2 of R was used. A logistic regression was conducted examining the main effects of ethnicity, severity of anxiety, and severity of depression as well as the multiplicative interactions between ethnicity and severity of anxiety, and ethnicity and severity of depression on development of EOAD. Neither interaction was significant and those terms were removed from the final model. Results demonstrated a trend towards significance with the main effects of severity of anxiety (p = 0.075) and ethnicity (p = 0.051). Results suggest a non-significant increase in likelihood of EOAD with an increase in severity of anxiety while, contradictory to expectations, ethnicity showed a possible decrease in the likelihood of EOAD. Some previous research found that minorities, including Hispanics, were more likely to be diagnosed with EOAD and experience anxiety or depression (Panegyres & Chen, 2014). Ortiz et al. viewed that Hispanics with AD were much more likely to have anxiety or apathy disorders (Ortiz et al., 2006). Although our findings suggest that anxiety, independent of ethnicity, is a possible contributor to the development of EOAD, further research needs to be conducted. Data from the NACC consisted of only 8% Hispanic individuals which could have made it difficult to detect the relationship between ethnicity and a diagnosis of EOAD. In the future, obtaining data from a larger number of Hispanic participants could help provide results that match that of previous research. Through this project, it can be viewed that anxiety could be used as a possible way to spot the signs of EOAD.
