Methods and Early Recruitment of a Community-Based Study of Cognitive Impairment Among Mexican Americans and Non-Hispanic Whites: The BASIC-Cognitive Study

This article describes the methodology and initial recruitment findings for a study that estimated prevalence of cognitive impairment and dementia in Mexican Americans compared with non-Hispanic white people in Nueces County, Texas. The study was aligned with the parent BASIC project, a population-based epidemiological stroke surveillance project, funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1999 to identify differences in stroke prevalence among Mexican Americans and non-Hispanic Whites.

Random, door-to-door case ascertainment was used, and nursing home residents were also sampled. In-home assessments were conducted to obviate the need for transportation to a clinic. Participants were assessed using the Harmonized Cognitive Assessment Protocol (HCAP), a tool developed for the University of Michigan’s Health and Retirement Study, which is also used in several international studies of cognitive aging. This will enable researchers to compare the study’s prevalence estimates with data from other studies. Recruitment efforts identified 1,030 age-eligible households and 1,320 age-eligible individuals. Initial recruitment yielded robust participation in the Mexican American eligible population, with 60% of 689 individuals completing cognitive screening.

Briceño EM, Mehdipanah R, Gonzales X, et al. Methods and early recruitment of a community-based study of cognitive impairment among Mexican Americans and Non-Hispanic Whites: The BASIC-Cognitive Study. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease 2019; Epub ahead of print.