About the study:
The Assessing Memory in Every Neighborhood (AMEN) study is examining how social determinants of health, particularly neighborhood environments, may influence cognitive health and attitudes toward participating in research. Neighborhoods vary widely in access to resources, socioeconomic conditions, environmental exposures, transportation and food access, and levels of social and structural vulnerability, all of which may influence cognitive health over time.
What we did:
We partnered with community organizations across Central Ohio and recruited 308 participants at local events. Participants completed the Self-Administered Gerocognitive Exam (SAGE), a brief memory screening which helps identify patterns of cognitive functioning, ranging from no impairment to more severe impairment. Participants also completed questionnaires about their mental and cognitive health, social and environmental factors, knowledge about Alzheimer’s disease, and attitudes toward participating in research.
Future directions:
Enrollment for the AMEN Study is now closed. Moving forward, we plan to analyze how neighborhood-level factors relate to cognitive health outcomes and use our findings to inform community-engaged dementia research, early identification efforts, and future studies focused on reducing disparities in cognitive aging and Alzheimer’s disease.