Building Research Infrastructure for Alzheimer’s disease and Related Dementias in Côte d’Ivoire to Advance Global and U.S. Health Insights

PROJECT SUMMARY
Most research on Alzheimer’s Disease and Alzheimer’s-Related Dementias (AD/ADRD) is set in
higher income contexts in North America, Europe, and Asia, yet (1) the burden of AD/ADRD is
rapidly increasing in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), particularly in sub-Saharan
Africa (SSA); (2) the field can learn more about the etiology of AD/ADRD from studying it in
contexts that have different patterns of exposure: for example, older individuals in SSA are more
likely to live in rural areas, have longer labor force participation, and different disease
vulnerabilities; and (3) there is relatively little expertise in neuroscience and AD/ADRD research
outside of high-income contexts. To address these issues, we propose a collaboration between
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHBSPH) in the United States and École
Nationale de Statistiques et d’Economie Appliquee (ENSEA) in Cote d’Ivoire to jointly build the
research infrastructure to study AD/ADRD in a new context by creating a set of reusable tools
that will be employed by the ENSEA team independently for continued research after this
project is completed. This collaboration will also yield insights into genetic, environmental, and
social factors associated with AD/ADRD that can inform prevention and treatment strategies in
the United States. This project will proceed in two phases. In the first, the UG3 phase, our goals
are to establish data collection and research protocols for the 40+ population in Cote d’Ivoire
and develop a network of stakeholders involved in aging-related policies and programs. For the
second phase (UH3), we intend to collect data on dementia for a representative sample of
approximately 4500 adults aged 40 and older in Cote d’Ivoire and conduct research that
identifies risk factors for AD/ADRD in Cote d’Ivoire.

Grant Number: 5UG3AG090673-02
NIH Institute/Center: NIH
Principal Investigator: Philip Anglewicz