Is Effective Recruitment Strategy Critical to Assess Brain Cognitive Function of Super Agers in Rural West Texas

J Alzheimers Dis Rep. 2024 Mar 19;8(1):555-559. doi: 10.3233/ADR-240009. eCollection 2024.

Abstract

Our commentary aims to elucidate the importance of participant recruitment strategy in healthy brain aging study, particularly in rural West Texas, where more than 50% of the population are Hispanics and Latinos. The objective of our health aging study is to investigate the possible influence of biological, sociodemographic, and lifestyle factors on the occurrence of chronic diseases and dementia in the aging populations of West Texas. The success of this initiative is, in large part, reliant on high-quality, effective recruitment of participants. To that end, we propose an increase in our strategic recruitment efforts for both healthy, cognitively superior agers as well as those with mild cognitive impairment and patients with Alzheimer's disease in rural west Texas. We discussed, multi-advertising approaches, including ads in the local newspapers, local TV Channels and poster boards in senior centers.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; dementia; healthy aging; mild cognitive impairment; recruitment strategies; rural elderly.