Loneliness and Inflammatory Markers as Biopsychosocial Pathways to AD/ADRD: Analysis of a Rapidly Aging Segment of the US Population

Mexican immigrants, the largest group of immigrants in the US, are rapidly aging, but current research often aggregates US Latinos, overlooking origin and nativity-specific social, structural, and migration-related factors that influence Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) risk. Attention to specific immigrant populations is necessary to address heterogeneity in cognitive risk factors. To address this gap, this research project focuses on loneliness, a risk factor for AD/ADRD that may be heightened in the older Mexican immigrant population. Using data from a nationally representative panel survey, complemented by data from a Rutgers-based cohort that collects advanced biomarkers, the project uses causal inference to analyze the inter-relationship between loneliness, social relationships, inflammation, and cognition for Mexican immigrants in the US compared to non-migrants, advancing understandings of modifiable risk factors for AD/ADRD.