Item Details

abstract

Diabetes is a chronic, metabolic disorder that affects how the body uses blood glucose. Research has continuously proven that African Americans (AA) have typically performed worse in cognitive testing than European Americans (EA). Previous data and papers have given society a proposed notion that Americans of African ancestry with type 2 diabetes (T2D) are more at risk of brain structural changes than those of European descent Americans with T2D. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-determined cerebral volumes of white matter (WM), gray matter (GM), white matter lesion (WML), and hippocampal GM of T2D participants. The AA-DHS sample in this study included 411 unrelated AA with T2D and genetically determined African ancestry data. Our study, for the first time, examined for possible direct correlation between African ancestry and brain architecture in patients with T2D. Results demonstrate that the proportion of participants’ of African ancestry is not associated with T2D-related brain structures, suggesting that the basis of health disparities for minorities with T2D could be environmental rather than genetic.

subject

African American

Brain Structure

Diabetes Mellitus

Genetics

Health Disparities

contributor

Ivory, Dorey Lavern Thomas (author)

Whitlow, Christopher T. (committee chair)

Beavers, Daniel P (committee member)

Byrd, Goldie (committee member)

date

2020-05-29T08:36:08Z (accessioned)

2020 (issued)

degree

Health Disparities in Neuroscience-related Disorders – MS (discipline)

2025-05-18 (liftdate)

embargo

2025-05-18 (terms)

identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/96846 (uri)

language

en (iso)

publisher

Wake Forest University

title

Effects of Type 2 Diabetes Interactions on Brain Structure and Genetics in African Descent Individuals

type

Thesis