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Cardiovascular Risk Moderates the Association Between Traumatic Brain Injury Severity and Attention in Hispanic/Latino Adults

Poster Session D - Monday, March 9, 2026, 8:00 – 10:00 am PDT, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballrooms

Alyssa Lawrence¹ (aharris9801@sdsu.edu), Ariana Stickel¹; ¹San Diego State University

Although cognitive deficits are common immediately following traumatic brain injury (TBI), recovery is often expected. Less is known about long-term cognitive effects in adults, particularly among Latino populations who face disparities in TBI care and a high prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors. We hypothesized that greater TBI severity (moderate-to-severe vs mild) would be associated with poorer cognitive performance and that this association would be stronger with greater CVD risk. Participants were 57 Latino adults aged 46-85 years from the TBI Model System database. Cognitive performance was assessed using the Brief Test of Adults Cognition by Telephone (BTACT), including immediate/delayed word recall, backward digit span, category fluency, and backward counting. Linear regression examined associations between TBI severity and cognition, and moderation analyses tested whether CVD risk modified these relationships. Models adjusted for age, sex, education, socioeconomic status, and language. Moderate-to-severe TBI was associated with poorer backward counting performance compared to mild TBI (b= –5.52, p= .03). CVD risk significantly moderated this association (interaction b= –8.40, p= .048), such that higher CVD risk was associated with worse backward counting among moderate-to-severe TBI (r= −.55, p= .007) but not in the mild TBI group (r= −.11, p= .48). Fisher's r-to-z comparison indicated a trend toward group differences (z= 1.81, p= .07). Backward counting, a measure of attention/working memory, may be sensitive to long-term cognitive vulnerabilities following severe TBI. Elevated CVD risk appears to exacerbate these deficits, underscoring the importance of vascular health in cognitive outcomes following TBI among Latino adults.

Topic Area: EXECUTIVE PROCESSES: Working memory