How early-life spending shape aging and dementia risk later in life
Official title: Upstream drivers of healthy aging: Assessing the role of state and county expenditures in early life on midlife cognition and later-life dementia risk
Funded at Stanford University · NIH-11478838 · Data updated 2026-11-12
A Stanford-led study looks at how state and county spending in childhood may influence midlife thinking skills and the risk of dementia in later life.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Stanford University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Stanford, United States) |
| Project start | June 1, 2024 |
| Project end | May 31, 2029 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $249,000 |
| NIH project number | 4R00AG086672-03 |
| Project ID | NIH-11478838 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are adults aged 21 and older who participated in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 or the Health and Retirement Study.
✕Less likely to help
Participants in other age groups or cohorts not represented in the datasets may not directly benefit from this study.
What this research studies
This project follows people over many years to see if childhood environments, shaped by public spending, set a path that affects brain health decades later. It uses a new longitudinal expenditures database and two large datasets to connect early-life conditions with later dementia risk. By focusing on factors like education and incarceration, the study aims to identify how places and policies could influence aging brains. The findings could point to actions that protect cognitive health across communities and generations.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the work could inform policies that support healthier aging and reduce dementia risk for communities.
How similar studies have gone: Prior research links early-life conditions to later health, but this study tests a novel connection with historical expenditure data and national cohorts.
Where this research is happening
-
Stanford University
Stanford, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Duarte, Catherine — Stanford University
- Study coordinator: Duarte, Catherine
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.