P3‐290: Measuring transitions into dementia and cognitive impairment: Evaluating the efficacy of longitudinal survey data in the public domain
Year: 2012
Type: article
Abstract: There is a long-standing interest in understanding individual transitions from unimpaired health to cognitive impairment. It has only been since the late 1980 that national longitudinal surveys have evolved that allow us follow healthy elders into later life and measure some of the risk patters associated with those who are afflicted with forms of dementia including Alzheimer's. A numbers of such studies now offer enough repeat measures that social and biomedical researchers can examine these populations and seek useful indicators of health changes associated with cognitive impairments. We have also seen an exciting increase in the limited number of studies that once looked at childhood health, cognition and socioeconomic status now extending their studies to follow their respondents into later life outcomes. NACDA, the largest repository of secondary data on aging and health in the U.S., reviewed data collections in the public domain that allow for the examination of transitions among respondents across time from good health to various levels of cognitive impairment including diagnoses of Alzheimer's. We ranked these studies by the level of detail they provided, the number of repeat measures they provided and the ability to analyze long term outcomes among the respondents. NACDA identified several very useful studies, including the Health and Retirement Survey (HRS), the National Long Term Care Survey (NLTCS) as well as new studies such as the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP) among others which offer opportunities for multidisciplinary research. NACDA also identified several emerging studies that may have a major impact on our understanding of early life impacts on later life outcomes such as Alzheimer's. NACDA will use these studies as examples of what could be done to promote multidisciplinary research in cognitive decline and the onset of Alzheimer's in the U.S. population. While not large in number, there are enough longitudinal studies that follow respondents as they transition from good health to cognitive impairment to allow researchers to work across social and biomedical disciplines in trying to understand social and environmental impacts on the risks of cognitive decline as part of the aging lifecourse.
Source: Alzheimer s & Dementia
Authors: James McNally, Martha Sayre
Institution: University of Michigan
Language: English
Subfield: Psychiatry and Mental health
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $4,200
OpenAlex ID: W2085503571