11/25/2024
By Hajnalka Hartl

The Zuckerberg College of Health Sciences, Department of Public Health, cordially invites you to a dissertation proposal by Hajnalka E. Hartl on “Examining the relationships between perceived stress, systemic inflammation and cognitive function in the Boston Puerto Rican Health Study.”

Date: Wednesday, Dec. 4
Time: 9 to 10:30 a.m.
Location: Fully remote via Teams. Those interested in attending should contact the Sc.D. candidate at Hajnalka_Hartl@student.uml.edu at least 24 hours prior to the scheduled proposal defense time to request link.

Committee Members:
• Natalia Palacios, Ph.D., (Chair and advisor), Associate Professor, Department of Public Health, UMass Lowell
• Katherine Tucker, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Biomedical and Nutritional Sciences, UMass Lowell
• Jong Soo Lee, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Mathematics &Statistics, UMass Lowell

Brief abstract:
The overarching goal of this work will be to examine the inter-relationships between psychosocial stress, systemic inflammation and cognitive function in the Boston Puerto Rican Health Study, an underserved Latino cohort with a high burden on chronic inflammation, cognitive decline and stress. Literature is sparse on perceived stress and cognition in the matrix of systemic inflammation and NSAID use. Most only measure one inflammatory marker, or do not investigate potential associations of NSAID use and cognition. In the proposed study we will examine the associations of perceived stress, systemic inflammation, use of anti-inflammatory medications and cognitive function. Furthermore, we plan to examine if the use of anti-inflammatory agents, such as non-specific NSAIDs and Cox-2 inhibitors would provide a protective effect against cognitive decline in this cohort.

Aim 1. Examine the association between perceived stress and cognitive function.
We hypothesize that:
1a. Higher perceived stress cores are associated with lower global cognition scores.
1b. Higher baseline perceived stress cores are associated with faster decline of cognitive function.

Aim 2. Examine the role of cytokines and cortisol levels in the risk for cognitive decline.
We hypothesize that higher levels of inflammatory markers are associated with lower cognition scores.
Supplementary aim 2. Examine the relationship between perceived stress and cytokine levels.

Aim 3. Assess the relationship between NSAID use and cognitive function.
We hypothesize that the use of NSAIDs is associated with higher global cognition scores.
Supplementary aim 3. Examine the relationship between perceived stress and NSAID use.