Scholars@Duke
Robert Turner II

Robert Turner II

Associate Professor in Population Health Sciences
Population Health Sciences
robert.turner2@duke.edu
DUMC 3003, Durham, NC 27710

Selected Publications

Defining racial health equity: an integrative analysis of terminology and conceptualizations.

Journal Article J Clin Epidemiol · December 12, 2025 OBJECTIVES: The current literature lacks an established and adoptable definition of "racial health equity." This study aimed to catalog and evaluate, via thematic analyses, definitions and terminology related to racial health equity across the specific stu ... Full text Link to item Cite

Disparities in post-traumatic neurodegeneration among adults of African American or Black racial identity: a scoping review protocol.

Journal Article BMJ Open · November 28, 2025 INTRODUCTION: This scoping review will evaluate and synthesise what is known about the impact of structural and social determinants of health on neurodegeneration among adults of African American or Black (AAB) racial identity with a history of traumatic b ... Full text Link to item Cite

Terminology and Definitions of Racial Health Equity in Prominent Health Websites: Systematic Review.

Journal Article J Med Internet Res · July 23, 2025 BACKGROUND: The websites of prominent public health and health care organizations play pivotal roles in ensuring access to quality health information, including information guiding health equity. Several initiatives have been developed in the United States ... Full text Link to item Cite

Breaking the silence: understanding the unique burden on informal Black male dementia caregivers.

Journal Article Alzheimers Dement · May 2025 As the rates of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and AD and related dementias (ADRD) in the United States steadily rise, so too does the demand for informal caregiving. Research on AD/ADRD caregiving highlights the associated risk of adverse health outcomes and lo ... Full text Link to item Cite

Community-engaged efforts to increase retention of Black American online registry participants

Journal Article Alzheimer S and Dementia Translational Research and Clinical Interventions · April 1, 2025 INTRODUCTION: Many longitudinal Alzheimer's disease studies fail to retain Black American adults once enrolled. This limits the generalizability of research findings. METHODS: The Community-Engaged Digital Alzheimer's Research (CEDAR) study developed digit ... Full text Cite

Race and Incident Dementia Among Older Black and Older White Men.

Journal Article J Aging Health · March 2025 The objective of this study was to determine if racial differences exist between older Non-Hispanic Black (NHB) and White (NHW) men in incident dementia over 11 years (2011-2022) in the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS). The analytic sample in ... Full text Link to item Cite

Shape analysis of the amygdala, hippocampus and thalamus in former American football players

Journal Article Brain Communications · January 1, 2025 Repetitive head impacts are common in contact and collision sports and are linked to structural brain changes and an elevated risk of neurodegenerative diseases such as Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. Identifying early in vivo structural markers remains ... Full text Cite

Paper 3: a systematic review of definitions for "racial health equity" and related terms within health-related articles.

Journal Article J Clin Epidemiol · December 2024 OBJECTIVES: To systematically evaluate definitions of "racial health equity" (RHE) and related terms within health-related academic literature. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: We systematically evaluated definitions of RHE and related terms within health-related ... Full text Link to item Cite

Effects of mTBI with loss of consciousness on neurobehavioral symptoms, depression, and insomnia in former collegiate and NFL football athletes.

Journal Article Brain Inj · September 18, 2024 OBJECTIVE: Considering that diagnostic decisions about mTBI are often predicated on clinical symptom criteria, it is imperative to determine which initial presentation features of mTBI have prognostic significance for identifying those at high risk for lon ... Full text Link to item Cite

Clinical Outcomes and Tau Pathology in Retired Football Players: Associations With Diagnosed and Witnessed Sleep Apnea.

Journal Article Neurol Clin Pract · April 2024 BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Obstructive sleep apnea (SA) is common in older men and a contributor to negative cognitive, psychiatric, and brain health outcomes. Little is known about SA in those who played contact sports and are at increased risk of neurode ... Full text Link to item Cite

Childhood and Adulthood Trauma Associate With Cognitive Aging Among Black and White Older Adults.

Journal Article Am J Geriatr Psychiatry · March 2024 UNLABELLED: Sociocontextual factors powerfully shape risk for age-related cognitive impairment, including excess risk burdening medically underserved populations. Lifecourse adversity associates with cognitive aging, but harms are likely mitigable. Underst ... Full text Link to item Cite

Flortaucipir tau PET findings from former professional and college American football players in the DIAGNOSE CTE research project.

Journal Article Alzheimers Dement · March 2024 INTRODUCTION: Tau is a key pathology in chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Here, we report our findings in tau positron emission tomography (PET) measurements from the DIAGNOSE CTE Research Project. METHOD: We compare flortaucipir PET measures from 10 ... Full text Link to item Cite

Brain Health Registry Study Partner Portal: Novel infrastructure for digital, dyadic data collection.

Journal Article Alzheimers Dement · February 2024 BACKGROUND: In Alzheimer's disease (AD) research, subjective reports of cognitive and functional decline from participant-study partner dyads is an efficient method of assessing cognitive impairment and clinical progression. METHODS: Demographics and subje ... Full text Link to item Cite

Definitions, terminology, and related concepts of "racial health equity": a scoping review protocol.

Journal Article Syst Rev · September 30, 2023 BACKGROUND: In the USA, access to quality healthcare varies greatly across racial and ethnic groups, resulting in significant health disparities. A new term, "racial health equity" (RHE), is increasingly reported in the medical literature, but there is cur ... Full text Link to item Cite

The structural and social determinants of Alzheimer's disease related dementias.

Journal Article Alzheimers Dement · July 2023 INTRODUCTION: The projected growth of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and AD-related dementia (ADRD) cases by midcentury has expanded the research field and impelled new lines of inquiry into structural and social determinants of health (S/SDOH) as fundamental dr ... Full text Link to item Cite

Positive Effects of Religion and Social Ties on the Health of Former NFL Athletes.

Journal Article Journal of religion and health · April 2023 This study explores the relationship between religious service attendance, social ties, and health among former NFL players, a population with relatively high levels of religious attendance who endure physically demanding occupations. Research shows that f ... Full text Cite

Neuropsychological test performance of former American football players.

Journal Article Alzheimers Res Ther · January 3, 2023 BACKGROUND: Patterns of cognitive impairment in former American football players are uncertain because objective neuropsychological data are lacking. This study characterized the neuropsychological test performance of former college and professional footba ... Full text Link to item Cite

The Community Engaged Digital Alzheimer's Research (CEDAR) Study: A Digital Intervention to Increase Research Participation of Black American Participants in the Brain Health Registry.

Journal Article J Prev Alzheimers Dis · 2023 BACKGROUND: Although Black/African American older adults bear significant inequities in prevalence, incidence, and outcomes of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias, they are profoundly under-included in Alzheimer's Disease research. Community-Engaged ... Full text Link to item Cite

Understanding Online Registry Facilitators and Barriers Experienced by Black Brain Health Registry Participants: The Community Engaged Digital Alzheimer's Research (CEDAR) Study.

Journal Article J Prev Alzheimers Dis · 2023 BACKGROUND: Failure of Alzheimer's disease and related diseases (ADRD) research studies to include and engage Black participants is a major issue, which limits the impact and generalizability of research findings. Little is known about participation of Bla ... Full text Link to item Cite

Associations between near end-of-life flortaucipir PET and postmortem CTE-related tau neuropathology in six former American football players.

Journal Article Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging · January 2023 PURPOSE: Flourine-18-flortaucipir tau positron emission tomography (PET) was developed for the detection for Alzheimer's disease. Human imaging studies have begun to investigate its use in chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Flortaucipir-PET to autopsy ... Full text Link to item Cite

Investigating the relationship between mild traumatic brain injury and Alzheimer's disease and related dementias: a systematic review.

Journal Article J Neurol · September 2022 The objective of this systematic review is to synthesize the relevant literature published after 2016 to ascertain the current landscape of science that relates mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) to the onset of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (A ... Full text Link to item Cite

Chronotype and social support among student athletes: impact on depressive symptoms.

Journal Article Chronobiol Int · September 2021 Previous studies have shown individuals with evening chronotype to have a greater likelihood for depression (self-reported and clinical ratings), especially in young adults. However, the mechanisms for this relationship remain unknown. Low levels of social ... Full text Link to item Cite

Developing methods to detect and diagnose chronic traumatic encephalopathy during life: rationale, design, and methodology for the DIAGNOSE CTE Research Project.

Journal Article Alzheimers Res Ther · August 12, 2021 BACKGROUND: Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a neurodegenerative disease that has been neuropathologically diagnosed in brain donors exposed to repetitive head impacts, including boxers and American football, soccer, ice hockey, and rugby players. ... Full text Link to item Cite

Trends in Relative Incidence and Prevalence of Dementia Across Non-Hispanic Black and White Individuals in the United States, 2000-2016.

Journal Article JAMA Neurol · March 1, 2021 IMPORTANCE: In the US, dementia risk is higher in non-Hispanic Black individuals than in non-Hispanic White individuals. To evaluate progress toward reducing such disparities, tracking secular trends in racial disparities in dementia prevalence is essentia ... Full text Link to item Cite

Sleep problems are associated with academic performance in a national sample of collegiate athletes.

Journal Article J Am Coll Health · January 2021 Examine associations between a range of sleep problems and academic performance in a national sample of collegiate athletes. Participants: Data were obtained from the National College Health Assessment of US college/university students from 2011-2014 (N =  ... Full text Link to item Cite

The Price of Playing Through Pain: The Link Between Physical and Behavioral Health in Former NFL Athletes.

Journal Article Am J Mens Health · 2020 Over the past decade, media outlets have drawn attention to some of the health consequences of playing in the National Football League (NFL), including how wear-and-tear and injuries accumulated during athletes' playing years can affect their physical, emo ... Full text Link to item Cite

Sleep Difficulties and Cognition for 10 Years in a National Sample of U.S. Older Adults.

Journal Article Innov Aging · 2020 BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Sleep difficulties are common among older adults and are associated with cognitive decline. We used data from a large, nationally representative longitudinal survey of adults aged older than 50 in the United States to examine the ... Full text Link to item Cite

Functional Limitations Mediate the Relationship Between Pain and Depressive Symptoms in Former NFL Athletes.

Journal Article Am J Mens Health · 2019 The objective of this study was to analyze data from the National Football League Player Care Foundation Study of Retired NFL Players to understand potential risks for depressive symptoms in former athletes by investigating the relationship between pain an ... Full text Link to item Cite

A preliminary study of youth sport concussions: Parents' health literacy and knowledge of return-to-play protocol criteria.

Journal Article Brain Inj · 2017 PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: To preliminarily explore parents' health literacy and knowledge of youth sport league rules involving concussion education and training, and return-to-play protocols. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: This study was guided by the Knowledge, A ... Full text Link to item Cite

Reported Sports Participation, Race, Sex, Ethnicity, and Obesity in US Adolescents From NHANES Physical Activity (PAQ_D).

Journal Article Glob Pediatr Health · 2015 Objective. To understand the relationships between participation in different types of leisure time sport activity and adolescent obesity, and how those relationships might differ based on race, gender, and household income. Methods. Data consisted of 6667 ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

2011 North Carolina YRBS: Athletic Participation, Violence, and Bullying

Journal Article Journal of Adolescent Health · February 2014 Full text Cite

Is bigger really better? Obesity among high school football players, player position, and team success.

Journal Article Clin Pediatr (Phila) · October 2013 OBJECTIVE: American football is one of the most common high school sports in the United States. We examine obesity among high school football players, and variations based on positions, team division, and team success. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We used 2 data ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

A New Collegiate Model: Intra-Collegiate Athletics at BYU Idaho

Journal Article Case Studies in Sport Management · January 2012 Aaron Kelly, a highly respected college sport consultant, is charged with the task of presenting a new model of intercollegiate athletic administration to a panel of leaders in the field. Coincidence and research led him to a successful National Ju ... Full text Cite