This research evaluates the nature of interactions between two key socio-demographic variables (educational attainment, race/ethnicity) and two key behavioral risk factors (obesity and smoking) to determine whether the two sets of risk factors operate additively or multiplicatively with each to influence the chance of dying.
Using data from ten waves (1996 to 2014) of the Health and Retirement Studies, this study examines patterns of multi-morbidity both within and between spouses, focusing on concordance in the management activities required by multiple conditions.
This pilot study uses patient-reported outcomes in the nationally-representative Health and Retirement Study and Medicare claims to develop and internally validate a multimorbidity index for International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-coded chronic conditions weighted to physical functioning. The study will yield a validated multimorbidity measure that captures the impact of coexisting chronic diseases on physical functioning in aging adults relevant for clinical care, research, and policy.
Significant knowledge gaps regarding the depression-dementia link include modifiable factors that attenuate this link and reasons for differences in resilience across racial groups. This pilot addresses these gaps by recruiting a racially diverse, population-representative sample of older adults for psychosocial, cognitive, and functional assessment and by examining how modifiable psychosocial resources that differ across race promote cognitive resilience to depressive symptoms.