There are many active research projects accessing and applying shared ADNI data. Use the search above to find specific research focuses on the active ADNI investigations. This information is requested annually as a requirement for data access.
| Principal Investigator | |
| Principal Investigator's Name: | Sandra Loza |
| Institution: | Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian |
| Department: | Neuropsychology |
| Country: | |
| Proposed Analysis: | Late Retirement and Decline in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) Background/Problem Statement This research aims to examine how retirement affects the rates of Alzheimer's disease. The data will be narrowed down to understanding the correlation between retirement and the rates of dementia-related diseases like Alzheimer’s disease (Zhang & Pierce, 2014). Some studies have focused on understanding the comorbidity after retirement, and whether retirees who engage in volunteering work have specific cognitive functional benefits (Grotz et al., 2015). The onset of retirement (age) is associated with the overall scores on cognitive assessment. The aim is to measure how retirement mediates covariates like depression, sleep, mood, or anxiety as some of the major indicators or signs of dementia. This will involve collecting data by comparing active and non-active retirees. The study is expected to be longitudinal, examining the short-term and long-term relationships between retirement and AD. For moderating variables, the focus will be on APOE Genotyping and TOMM40 PolyT variant genes. The study also requests to understand the AD x genes within family history concerning retirement to determine if this further increases the decline in AD. Existing Research Gap Studies have sought to understand and explore how deferred retirement is linked to delay in AD diagnosis or onset. Grotz et al. (2015) explored if the age of retirement predicts AD onset. The study reported that retiring at a later age was linked to later AD diagnosis. Particularly, leaving work is a transition that leads to a major transition in an individual's life and may trigger effects on cognitive functioning. Retirement is linked to serious cognitive functioning among the elderly. Age-related intellectual deterioration has also been explored with regards to assessing and understanding the role of genetic factors, whether there is a heritability relationship in this decline (Zhang & Pierce, 2014). Hence, genetic factors should be considered as moderators in AD onset among retirees. Existing literature evidence has shown the relationship between retirement and an individual's cognitive functioning. Bonsang, Adam, and Perelman (2012) reported the negative implications of retiring on the population's cognitive operation, suggesting the inherent need for labor force engagement or participation for the elderly for reducing their health externalities. Some studies have been more elaborate like Thomas, Overeem, and Claassen (2019) who identified the evidence suggesting how deprived sleep mediates AD development. It follows that many studies have been focusing on understanding the short-term impacts that sleep deficiency has on an individual's intellectual functioning. The challenge is limited self-reported sleep from longitudinal studies and the associated risks with later-life dementia. Sleep deprivation is associated with neurodegenerative disease (Thomas et al., 2019). The authors established no indication that extended work-related loss in sleep would trigger cognitive deterioration. The research findings are inconclusive and regard the role of late retirement on sleep or mood, which are major symptoms of cognitive deterioration in the elderly. Hence, there is a need for longitudinal research to determine how late retirement reduces the rates of AD by measuring the individual’s cognitive test scores and controlling for moderators like genetics. Therefore, the study will aim to answer the following: • Whether retirement is related to cognitive functioning; considering that late retirement reduces cognitive functional deterioration. • Whether moderating factors including genes influence the impacts of late retirement or active retirement on AD onset. • Whether volunteering and active retirement lead to the late onset of AD; considering that engaging in active work improves the individual's cognitive function and reduces risks to AD. • Whether late retirement should be considered as an intervention against AD; in which late retirement has been reported to reduce the onset of AD and other conditions related to cognitive impairment. |
| Additional Investigators |
