Browsing by Author "Perry, Brea"

Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
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    Network recall among older adults with cognitive impairments
    (Elsevier, 2021) Roth, Adam R.; Peng, Siyun; Coleman, Max E.; Finley, Evan; Perry, Brea; Sociology, School of Liberal Arts
    Although it is widely accepted that personal networks influence health and illness, network recall remains a major concern. This concern is heightened when studying a population that is vulnerable to cognitive decline. Given these issues, we use data from the Social Network in Alzheimer Disease project to explore similarities and discrepancies between the network perceptions of focal participants and study partners. By leveraging data on a sample of older adults with normal cognition, mild cognitive impairment, and early stage dementia, we explore how cognitive impairment influences older adults’ perceptions of their personal networks. We find that the average individual is more likely to omit weaker, peripheral ties from their self-reported networks than stronger, central ties. Despite observing only moderate levels of focal-partner corroboration across our sample, we find minimal evidence of perceptual differences across diagnostic groups. We offer two broad conclusions. First, self-reported network data, though imperfect, offer a reasonable account of the core people in one’s life. Second, our findings assuage concerns that cognitively impaired older adults have skewed perceptions of their personal networks.
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    Neurological Correlates of Social Bonding and Bridging
    (Oxford University Press, 2022-12-20) Manchella, Mohit; Logan, Paige; Perry, Brea; Peng, Siyun; Hamilton, Lucas; Risacher, Shannon; Saykin, Andrew; Apostolova, Liana; Neurology, School of Medicine
    Social connectedness has been linked to decreased rates of cognitive decline in later life. However, recent work suggests that particular social network characteristics (i.e., bonding and bridging) may buffer against age-related degeneration. The present study analyzes social network and structural MRI data of 176 older adults from the Social Networks and Alzheimer’s Disease (SNAD) study. Results indicate that increased social bridging is associated with greater grey matter (GM) volume in several limbic structures. Increased social bonding is associated with greater GM volumes in several cerebral cortex structures as well as greater volumes in some components of the limbic system. Most notably, the effects of bridging are primarily lateralized in the left hemisphere while the effects of bonding are observed mostly in the right hemisphere. These results suggest that the neurocognitive benefits of social connectedness depend on the preponderance of bridging and/or bonding ties in older adults’ social networks.
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    Racial Differences in the Relationship Between Loneliness and Cognition Among Older Adults in the Midwest
    (Oxford University Press, 2023-12-21) Catt, Wade; Fowler, Nicole; Perry, Brea; Peng, Siyun; Williams-Farrelly, Monica; Medicine, School of Medicine
    Findings from various studies have revealed a relationship between loneliness and negative health outcomes, including cognitive decline and dementia. The strength and direction of this relationship has been contested as there is wide variability in definitions and testing criteria for loneliness. If loneliness is risk factor for cognitive decline, it may represent a cost-effective site for interventional design. We used data from the Precision Health Initiative’s Person to Person Health Interview Study (P2P), a cross-sectional survey conducted in Indiana from 2020-2021, to investigate the relationship between loneliness (UCLA 3-item loneliness scale) and cognition (The Montreal Cognitive Assessment; MoCA) among older adults and to determine if the strength of the relationship varies for black and white adults. Among our subsample of adults 55 and older, over one quarter (26.7%) reported loneliness, with white respondents reporting more loneliness than black respondents (26.8 and 22.0%, respectively). Being lonely was associated with lower cognition, as was being older, male, black, and having no college education. However, we found that loneliness was associated with worse cognition, for white adults only. Although black respondents in our sample reported more loneliness than older white adults after age 70, we did not have adequate power to determine if advanced age moderated the relationship. Our findings highlight the role of loneliness in cognition for older, white adults and the need for more research to assess this relationship for the “mid-“ and “oldest-old” black adults who may be more susceptible to loneliness due, in part, to racial disparities in mortality.
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    Training Physician-Scientists in Social and Behavioral Science: Indiana ADRD Medical Scientist Training Program
    (Oxford University Press, 2022-12-20) Fowler, Nicole; Herbert, Brittney-Shea; Callahan, Christopher; Peng, Siyun; Perry, Brea; Yoder, Karmen; Landreth, Gary; Truitt, William; Medicine, School of Medicine
    There is a critical need to grow and strengthen the pipeline of physician scientists who have expertise in sociomedical and behavioral research and are dedicated to addressing the nation's challenges posed by Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD). In 2021 The Indiana ADRD Medical Scientist Training Program (IADRD MSTP) was designed to meet this need and is built on the infrastructure of a robust portfolio of ADRD research, graduate training programs in medical neurosciences and sociology, and our existing MD-PhD program at Indiana University School of Medicine. The Aims of the IADRD MSTP are: 1) To recruit and train a competitive pool of diverse students who have an interest and commitment to social and behavioral research and patient care focused on ADRD; 2) To engage MD-PhD students early in mentored sociomedical and behavioral research that integrates IUs systems-based medical training curriculum with our cutting edge ADRD research that reinforces commitment and minimizes attrition of physician-scientists ADRD; and 3) To graduate students with dual MD-PhD degrees with strong methodological training in social and behavioral science and experts in ADRD who will be successful independent investigators at the best academic medical centers nationwide. The program includes rigorous didactic training in social, behavioral, and clinical research methods, with flexibility to allow students to focus their effort on one methodological area of interest; early initiation of ADRD research experiences with multidisciplinary teams of mentors and advisors; and the provision of educational experiences that enhance students' abilities to become independent researchers.
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    Trends in Abortion- and Contraception-Related Internet Searches After the US Supreme Court Overturned Constitutional Abortion Rights: How Much Do State Laws Matter?
    (American Medical Association, 2023-04-07) Gupta, Sumedha; Perry, Brea; Simon, Kosali; Economics, School of Liberal Arts
    Importance: The US Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health Organization on June 24, 2022, revealed immediate and distinct differences between states regarding abortion legality. Whether the ruling was associated with population-level changes in seeking information on reproductive health care-related information is unknown. Objective: To determine whether the US Supreme Court ruling on Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health Organization was associated with increased information seeking for reproductive health care access in the states with immediately effective (trigger and pre-Roe) abortion laws vs other states. Design, setting, and participants: This was a retrospective cross-sectional study of nationwide real-time internet search data by state-week from January 1, 2021, through July 16, 2022. Difference-in-difference event study estimates were used to evaluate abortion- and contraception-related internet searches after the Supreme Court draft majority decision was leaked on May 2, 2022, and the final ruling was issued on June 24, 2022, in states immediately affected vs other states. Data analyses were performed from July 18 to January 14, 2022. Exposures: The Supreme Court's draft majority decision leaked on May 2, 2022, and the final ruling on Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health Organization on June 24, 2022. Preexisting state trigger laws and pre-Roe bans that became effective immediately when Roe was overturned by the decision on Dobbs. Main outcomes and measures: Number of searches per 10 million Google queries in a state-week for terms related to abortion or contraception. Results: Searches for abortion-related terms increased from 16 302 to 75 746 per 10 million searches per state-week during the weeks before vs after the May 2, 2022, leak of the draft majority decision in states with trigger laws or abortion bans. This was a 42% (95% CI, 24%-59%) higher increase than in states with laws that protect abortion access. Searches for contraception also increased from 56 055 to 82 133 searches per state-week after the ruling in the states with abortion bans, 25% (95% CI, 13%-36%) higher than the increase in states protecting abortion access. Conclusions and relevance: The findings of this retrospective cross-sectional study suggest that changes in internet searching for terms related to reproductive health care can capture immediate population-level changes in information-seeking behavior regarding reproductive health care access. These data are critical for shaping health policy discussions.
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    Working Group Recommendations for an Indiana University Research Data Commons
    (2022-06-30) Simon, Kosali; Dallis-Comentale, Diane; Fang, Shiaofen; Huang, Kun; Link, Matt; Maupome, Gerardo; Menczer, Filippo; Neal, Aaron; Perry, Brea; Plale, Beth; Raymond, Angie; Wiehe, Sarah
    Starting on April 28, 2022, our Working Group set out to make recommendations for an Indiana University Research Data Commons (IU-RDCom), a strategy to identify and meet the growing needs associated with research data at our university. Developing a way to find, access, use and share research data is an iterative process that many peer universities are also currently pursuing. The process requires a university to identify researchers’ needs, catalog services that currently exist, understand how they can be leveraged along with new investments to meet these needs, and to establish a sustainable governance structure for developing and evolving the IU-RDCom. A competitive research data infrastructure will pay for itself in many ways through new external funding while it increases our scholarly, educational and service missions. The present report outlines our recommendations to VPR for practical steps IU should pursue in the near-, medium-, and long-term. In brief, these recommendations are to: 1) Establish a governing body to coordinate a research data commons. 2) Task the governing body with implementing and building on our recommendations. 3) Encourage IU leadership to communicate and promote IU’s strengths in research data. 4) Provide short-to-medium run financial support for building a foundation for the data commons. As stated in the charge to the Working Group (WG), the broad mission of the IU-RDCom is multifaceted: to serve as a university-wide resource for discovering, sharing, and accessing data resources across the IU community; to build on our world-class strengths in centralized cyberinfrastructure and other areas to present researchers with easier and more integrated pathways to our data resources; to enable richer training opportunities for students; and to empower IU to better serve local organizations, our state, and other partners. With exponential recent growth in the role of data in society and in scholarship, the need for universities to engage in strategic planning to strengthen research data infrastructure has been emphasized in new reports from the American Association of Universities (AAU), the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM). NASEM committees are also presently guiding the vision for federal research data infrastructure for the 21st century for similar reasons as for academia. From communications with research data leadership at peer institutions over the course of our work, it is amply clear that other universities are also prioritizing central-level strategies to meet these growing research data needs in academia.