A landmark study that started in 2021 to learn about war-time trauma among Vietnamese Americans has received $13.3 in additional NIH funding to delve deeper into how trauma affects aging and brain health.
The UC Davis-led study of more than 500 older Vietnamese Americans captured the scope of war, displacement and immigration trauma that occurred in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. The findings suggest resilience may help soften the long-term mental health effects of war-related trauma, offering insight that could inform healthier aging strategies for other trauma-exposed communities.
Now, new research further examines how the trauma, resilience and other life experiences interact to affect brain health and aging.
“We know that adversity and hardship are a part of life, and this is especially true for Vietnamese Americans who have faced war,” said Oanh Meyer, senior author and leader of a pioneering Vietnamese American cognitive aging study. “We want to know how these experiences affect later life cognitive and mental health.”
Meyer is part of UC Davis Health’sDepartment of Neurology and research faculty with the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. She also leads the landmark study, known as Vietnamese Insights into Cognitive Aging Program, or VIP. Funded by the National Institute on Aging, the effort examines how life experiences, resilience and cultural factors shape cognitive aging and dementia risk.
The new study is titled, “Aging and resilience in Vietnamese American older adults: Evidence from the Vietnamese Insights into Cognitive Aging Program.” Researchers examined whether resilience may help protect mental health later in life among older Vietnamese Americans who experienced early adversity and war-related trauma.
“If we can understand what contributes to resilience or protects against depression in later life, this could have implications for brain health,” Meyer explained.
The findings may have broader implications for aging research. As dementia rates rise, scientists are looking beyond genetics to understand how experiences across the lifespan — from education and stress to trauma, social support and mental health — influence cognitive aging.
When resilience becomes protective
In interviews for the earlier study, participants described fleeing danger, enduring hunger, living through imprisonment and being separated from loved ones. Yet alongside those memories, many spoke about faith, family, gratitude and the ability to adapt.
The newer, 2026 study, published in International Psychogeriatrics, analyzed data from 511 Vietnamese American adults aged 65 and older who are part of VIP. Researchers examined depression symptoms, stress and global cognition, a measure of overall thinking and memory.