Azheimer's Disease Risk and Ethnic Factors: the Case of Arab Americans- Administrative Supplement for Increased Costs

Increased Costs Supplement- Alzheimer's Disease Risk and Ethnic Factors: The Case of Arab
Americans
This application for a NIA Administrative Supplement is requested to address the unprecedented cost
increases arising from the two-year delay that followed the COVID-19 mandatory face-to-face data collection
shutdown. We note that there has been no change in the original funded scope of the project Alzheimer's
Disease Risk and Ethnic Factors: The Case of Arab Americans (R01AG057510). Despite the delay, no
intervening research has reduced the importance or uniqueness of the proposed study, which will significantly
advance our knowledge of racial/ethnic disparities in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and immigrant health through
its focus on a severely underrepresented population. This project will also provide currently unavailable Arabic
instruments and normative data that will assist both researchers and clinicians in the assessment of Mild
Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and AD in Arab Americans. The specific aims are to: 1) Characterize cognition and
AD risk among Arab Americans in metro-Detroit; 2) Determine the contribution of immigrant factors to cognition
and AD risk among older Arab Americans; 3) Identify aspects of social networks that have greatest effects on
cognition and AD risk. This supplement is submitted to preserve the integrity of the originally approved
objectives, purpose and expected overall impact of the study. The two-year COVID delay hit this pioneering
study especially hard and has been financially devastating. Making Arab Americans visible in AD research
epitomizes NIA's strategic directions related to AD disparities, as it will provide the first data on MCI and AD
prevalence in a regionally representative sample of Arab Americans. Arab Americans are disproportionately
underrepresented in research yet valuable to advancing knowledge related to health disparities. Further, the
planned sample identification and data collection of this project's original scope form the foundation of two
separately funded R01 studies (see Fig.1); completion of which hinges on this additional funding request.
Project deliverables will include critical assessment tools that do not currently exist, refined understanding of
AD disparities and immigrant health, and key information to effectively manage this growing and high-cost
disease in diverse older adults.

Grant Number: 3R01AG057510-05S1
NIH Institute/Center: NIH
Principal Investigator: KRISTINE AJROUCH