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AlzRisk Cohort Detail
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Cohort: Bronx Aging Study
Risk Factors: Blood Pressure,
Cognitive Activity

Introduction to the Cohort
The Bronx Aging study is a volunteer cohort of older adults living in Bronx County, New York, who were recruited between 1980 and 1983. Eligibility criteria required participants to be ambulatory, English-speaking, and free of Parkinson's disease, terminal illness, or functional impairments related to vision or hearing that prevented neuropsychological assessment. Most participants were between the age of 75 and 85 at enrollment. Participants were invited to annual follow-up examinations through 2008, when all participants except 1 had died or had been lost to follow-up. At baseline, 64.5% were female and the mean age was 79.

Ethnicity Breakdown
The vast majority of the cohort was white (90%) with most being of Jewish (70%), Italian, German, or Irish backgrounds.

Diagnosis & Evaluation Methods
For a detailed description of screening protocol and dementia diagnoses, see Katzman et al. (1989) and Verghese et al. (2003).

References
Hall CB, Lipton RB, Sliwinski M, Katz MJ, Derby CA, Verghese J. Cognitive activities delay onset of memory decline in persons who develop dementia. Neurology. 2009 Aug 4;73(5):356-361.

Katzman R, Aronson M, Fuld P, Kawas C, Brown T, Morgenstern H, et al. Development of dementing illnesses in an 80-year-old volunteer cohort. Ann Neurol. 1989 Apr;25(4):317-324.

Verghese J, Lipton RB, Hall CB, Kuslansky G, Katz MJ. Low blood pressure and the risk of dementia in very old individuals. Neurology. 2003 Dec 23;61(12):1667-1672.