Also known as the Strong Heart Stroke Study.
The Cerebrovascular Disease and its Consequences in American Indians (CDCAI) Study (2010-2013) recruited surviving members of a 20-year, longitudinal, population-based cohort of American Indians focused on cardiovascular disease, its risk factors, and its consequences. The goal of the CDCAI Study is to characterize the burden, risk factors, and manifestations of vascular brain injury identified on cranial MRI. The CDCAI Study investigators enrolled 1,033 participants aged 60 and older from 11 American Indian communities and tribes in the Northern Plains, Southern Plains, and Southwestern United States. In addition to cranial MRI performed according to standardized protocols, participants underwent extensive medical interview, clinical examination, neurocognitive testing, physical function evaluation, electrocardiogram, and provided blood and urine specimens. Participants also self-administered questionnaires covering demographics, quality of life, and medical history. This report describes the design, implementation, and some of the unique challenges of this study and data collection.
The follow-up examination repeated the previous CDCAI protocols in 2017-2019 among all 407 eligible, surviving participants with addition of cognitive testing, clinical examination, and brain imaging protocols related to Alzheimer’s disease, conducted in partnership with the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (University of Washington).