Dr. Michelle Carlson, research scientist in the Department of Mental Hygiene and core faculty member of the Center on Aging and Health, has recently been awarded a five-year grant from the National Institute of Aging titled, “Cognitive Pathways to Disability.” Dr. Carlson’s co-investigators include Dr. Linda Fried, Director of the Center and Principal Investigator of the Women’s Health and Aging Study II, Dr. Qian-Li Xue, Director of the Biostatistics Core in the Center and faculty member in the Department of Epidemiology, and Dr. Paulo Chaves, a core faculty member in the Center and a geriatrician in the Department of Epidemiology.
This study will be conducted under the auspices of the Women’s Health and Aging Study II (WHAS II) to understand how changes in various cognitive abilities with increasing age may exert downstream effects on physical function. The WHAS II offers a unique opportunity to explore in-depth the contributions of mental function to the progression to physical limitations to disability for numerous reasons. First, upon entry in the WHAS II, these women were both cognitively and physically high functioning, thereby allowing the researchers to determine the circumstances under which changes in cognition predict subsequent changes in physical function. Second, the majority of women have been retained and evaluated repeatedly using state-of-the-art self-report and performance measures of mobility and complex physical functions, such as taking medications and preparing meals. Third, since its inception, this study has contained a comprehensive evaluation of attention, verbal and visuospatial memory, mental speed, and language.
Dr. Carlson and colleagues will address 4 primary objectives: - To characterize rates of change in various cognitive abilities over a nine-year interval.
- To test whether and which cognitive changes predict changes observed and reported in physical function, independent of other known risk factors.
- To develop and validate sensitive instruments to assess changes in function as well as compensations that may influence future progression of difficulty in complex activities of daily living.
- To translate these findings for use in a variety of clinical and community settings.
|
