About the Study

The Boston Puerto Rican Health Study (BPRHS), which began in 2004, is a longitudinal study of an established cohort of 1500 older Puerto Rican adults residing in the Greater Boston area. The overall goal of this cohort study is to examine the role of psychosocial and physiologic stress, health and health behaviors, nutritional status, genetic and other personal health variations, and how social and community supports impact health disparities, such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and cardiometabolic outcomes, experienced by this population. There are four waves of data collected over ~13 years that focus on outcomes such as cognitive function, stress, cardiovascular health and overall health outcomes in relation to diet, health disparities and aging.

The Boston Puerto Rican Osteoporosis Study (BPROS) is an ancillary study to the BPRHS. After participants of the BPRHS completed their second visit, they were invited to take part in the BPROS. The BPROS collected additional measurements, including bone mineral density (BMD). A follow-up visit was conducted approximately 6 years after the baseline bone visit with participants of the BPROS to determine changes in BMD over time and to examine bone strength in relation to compounds called advanced glycation end products (AGEs).

Funding

Funding was provided by the following National Institute of Health Grants:

  • P01 AG023394
  • P50 HL105185
  • R01 AG055948
  • R01 AR072741
  • R01 AG027087
  • RF1 AG075922

2022

  • Liu MM, Telles E, Tucker KL, Falcon LM, Jiménez Velázquez IZ, Dow WH. Race/Ethnic Differences, Skin Tone, and Memory Among Older Latinos in the United States. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2022 Nov 23;77(11):2038-2048. PMCID: PMC9683490. 
  • Sahasrabudhe N, Lee JS, Zhang X, Scott T, Punnett L, Tucker KL, Palacios N. Adherence to Mediterranean Diet and Depressive Symptomatology among Boston area Puerto Ricans. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2022 Mar 7:glac057. doi: 10.1093/gerona/glac057. 
  • Liu MM, Telles E, Tucker KL, Falcon LM, Jiménez Velázquez IZ, Dow W. Race/Ethnic Differences, Skin Tone and Cognitive Aging among Older Latinos in the U.S. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2022 Mar 1:gbac043. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbac043.
  • Wang K, Maglalang DD, Woo B, De Fries CM, Hasche LK, Falcón LM. Perceived discrimination and cognitive function among older Puerto Ricans in Boston: The mediating role of depression. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2022 May;37(5). doi: 10.1002/gps.5717. PMCID: PMC9153945. 
  • Rivas-Tumanyan S, Pacheco LS, Haslam DE, Liang L, Tucker KL, Joshipura KJ, Bhupathiraju SN. Novel Plasma Metabolomic Markers Associated with Diabetes Progression in Older Puerto Ricans. Metabolites. 2022 Jun 2;12(6):513. doi: 10.3390/metabo12060513. PMCID: PMC9227184.
  • Schuchardt JP, Cerrato M, Ceseri M, DeFina LF, Delgado GE, Gellert S, Hahn A, Howard BV, Kadota A, Kleber ME, Latini R, Maerz W, Manson JE, Mora S, Park Y, Sala-Vila A, von Schacky C, Sekikawa A, Tintle N, Tucker KL, Vasan RS, Harris WS. Red blood cell fatty acid patterns from 7 countries: Focus on the Omega-3 index. Prostaglandins Leukot Essent Fatty Acids. 2022 Apr;179:102418. doi: 10.1016/j.plefa.2022.102418. 
  • Guan Y, Ebrahimzadeh SA, Cheng CH, Chen W, Leung T, Bigornia S, Palacios N, Garelnabi MO, Scott T, Bhadelia R, Tucker KL, Koo BB; Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. Association of Diabetes and Hypertension With Brain Structural Integrity and Cognition in the Boston Puerto Rican Health Study Cohort. Neurology. 2022 Apr 12;98(15):e1534-e1544. PMCID: PMC9012269.
  • Lopez-Cepero A, McClain A, Rosal M, Tucker KL, Mattei J. Examination of the allostatic load construct and its longitudinal association with health outcomes in the Boston Puerto Rican Health Study. Psychosom Med Jan 2022;84:104-115. PMCID: PMC8678200.

2021

  • Boumenna T, Scott TM, Lee JS, Zhang X, Kriebel D, Tucker KL, Palacios N. MIND Diet and Cognitive Function in Puerto Rican Older Adults. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2022 Mar 3;77(3):605-613. PMCID: PMC8893189. 
  • Flores AC, Heron C, Kim JI, Martin B, Al-Shaar L, Tucker KL, Gao X. Prospective Study of Plant-Based Dietary Patterns and Diabetes in Puerto Rican Adults. J Nutr. 2021 Dec 3;151(12):3795-3800. PMCID: PMC8643592.
  • Mangano KM, Noel SE, Dawson-Hughes B, Tucker KL. Sufficient Plasma Vitamin C Is Related to Greater Bone Mineral Density among Postmenopausal Women from the Boston Puerto Rican Health Study. J Nutr. 2021 Dec 3;151(12):3764-3772. PMCID: PMC8643605.   
  • Riseberg E, Lopez-Cepero A, Mangano KM, Tucker KL, Mattei J. Specific Dietary Protein Sources Are Associated with Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in the Boston Puerto Rican Health Study. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2022 Feb;122(2):298-308.e3. PMCID: PMC8671554.  
  • Riseberg E, Tamez M, Tucker KL, Rodriguez Orengo JF, Mattei J. Associations between diet quality scores and central obesity among adults in Puerto Rico. J Hum Nutr Diet. 2021 Dec;34(6):1014-1021. PMCID: PMC8590710.   
  • Parnell LD, Noel SE, Bhupathiraju SN, Smith CE, Haslam DE, Zhang X, Tucker KL, Ordovas JM, Lai CQ. Metabolite patterns link diet, obesity, and type 2 diabetes in a Hispanic population. Metabolomics. 2021 Sep 22;17(10):88. PMCID: PMC8458177.   
  • Cuevas AG, Abuelezam N, Chan SW, Carvalho K, Flores C, Wang K, Mattei J, Tucker KL, Falcon LM. Skin tone, discrimination, and allostatic load in middle-aged and old Puerto Ricans. Psychosom Med Sep 2021;83:805-812. PMCID: PMC8419137.   
  • Haslam DE, Liang L, Wang D, Kelly RS, Wittenbecher C, Perez CM, Martinez M, Lee C-H, Clish C, Wong D, Parnell L, Lai C-Q, Ordovas JM, Manson JE, Hu FB, Stampfer MJ, Tucker KL, Joshipura K, Bhupathiraju SN. Associations of network-derived metabolite clusters with prevalent type 2 diabetes among adults of Puerto Rican descent. BMJ Open Diabetes Res Care Aug 2021;9:e002298. PMCID: PMC8378385.   
  • Loprinzi PD, Crawford L, Scott T, Tucker KL. Association of physical activity on memory interference: Boston Puerto Rican Health Study. Health Prom Perspec May 2021;11:256-260. PMCID: PMC8233684.
  • Akinlawon OJ, Lai CQ, Noel SE, Flanagan KD, Tucker KL. Risk Factors Associated with Vitamin D Status among Older Puerto Rican Adults J Nutr Apr 2021;151:999-1007. PMCID: PMC8030721. 
  • McClain A, Xiao R, Tucker K, Falcon L, Mattei J. Depressive symptoms and allostatic load have a bidirectional association among Puerto Rican older adults. Psychol Med Jan 2021;14;1-13. doi:10.1017/S0033291720005139. PMCID: PMC8277900.
  • Lee-Bravatti MA, O'Neill J, Wurth R, Sotos-Prieto M, Gao X, Falcon LM, Tucker KL, Mattei J. Lifestyle behavioral factors and integrative successful aging among Puerto Ricans living in the mainland United States. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci May 2021;76(6):1108-1116. PMCID: PMC8248899.
  • Mangano KM, Noel SE, Lai C-Q, Christensen JJ, Ordovas JM, Dawson-Hughes B, Tucker KL, Parnell LD. Diet-derived fruit and vegetable metabolites show sex-specific inverse relationships to osteoporosis status. Bone Mar 2021;144:115780. PMCID: PMC7856195. 
  • Noel S, Cornell D, Zhang X, Mirochnick J, Mattei J, Falcon LM, Tucker KL. Patterns of change in cardiovascular risk assessments and ankle brachial index among Puerto Rican adults. PlosOne Jan 2021;16:e0245236. PMCID: PMC7817056. 

2020

2019

2018

20172016

2015

Read More

See Publications 2011-2014.

See Publications 2005 - 2010.

Potential models

The Center for Population Health (CPH) welcomes both internal and external proposals from investigators. Requests for BPRHS and/or BPROS data require prior approval of a CPH Analysis and Data Request Proposal Form.

Due to the high volume of requests, we ask that you review the codebooks below prior to completing the Analysis and Data Request Form.