HRS 2010 Data Collection Supplement

University Of Michigan At Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor MI

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This revision application (formerly called competing supplement) to the Health and Retirement Study (NLA U01AG009740) proposes to collect and distribute the first repeat longitudinal wave of biomarker and psychosocial data in 2010 from the half of the HRS sample that first received those measures in 2006 (N~9,282). In 2006, the Health and Retirement Study introduced a new in-person interview design that includes physical performance measures, anthropometric measures, blood pressure, dried blood spot assays for HbAlc, total and HDL cholesterol, and C-reactive protein, DNA collection, Social Security consent request, and a self-administered psychosocial questionnaire (the enhanced face-to-face interview). Half the sample received this interview for the first time in 2006, with the data released in mid-2007, and the other half will receive it in 2008. Collection of physical measures and biomarkers in population-based surveys is still relatively new, and very few studies provide repeat measurements on the same individuals at multiple time points. There is currently no nationally representative sample in the United States that provides information on individual-level change in these biomarkers and performance indicators in the older population. The data collection proposed for 2010 will enable researchers to analyze stability and change in these measures, link change to other life circumstances and health events, and examine how change occurs across measures. It will further enhance the comparability of the HRS with the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), as well as other international studies that have started to adopt the same protocols. In addition, the supplement proposes modest new activities in other high-priority areas, such as exploiting the now- available Medicare linkage to conduct an in-depth study of panel attrition in the HRS and further extensions of employer and pension plan linkages for the study of retirement.. RELEVANCE (See instructions): The new measures permit detailed assessment of levels and change in obesity and in the metabolic syndrome, providing an unparalleled picture of individual and cohort changes in the midst of the obesity "epidemic." They also address decline in cognitive and physical function with age, including the concept of frailty, and how these trajectories of individual change may be shifting with improved education and medical advances. Along with existing HRS measures and improved measures of psychological well-being they will permit richer analysis of the pathways by which socio- economic status affects disparities in health. This is competing continuation application for Years 17-22 of the Health and Retirement Study (MRS). We propose to continue core data collection on the steady-state design laid out in the previous renewal, including the addition of a new cohort in 2010;to build on our sub-study of prevalence of dementia to examine incidence;to add the collection of biological samples, including DNA, and psychosocial content;and to continue the use of mail surveys on special topics, including continued longitudinal measurement of consumption and time use for about half of the sample, as a low-cost complement to the core data collection. This application includes the period from January, 2006 through December 31, 2011. HRS provides a uniquely rich, nationally representative longitudinal dataset for the community of scientific and policy researchers who study the health, economics and demography of aging. It provides a research data base that can simultaneously support cross-sectional descriptions of the U.S. population over the age of fifty, longitudinal studies of a given cohort over a substantial period of time and research on cross-cohort trends. By 2010 the HRS will be able to support cross-cohort comparisons of trajectories of health, labor supply, or wealth accumulation for persons who entered their 50'sin 1992, 1998 and 2004. The HRS project creates a data system extending beyond the core survey data. One component of this extended data system consists of linkages to administrative data, including Social Security earnings and benefit records, Medicare utilization and diagnostic records, employer pension records, and the National Death Index. We plan to expand these linkages to include information on nursing home residents from the Minimum Data Set, and to explore linkages to Medicaid records. A second component is the use of the HRS survey as a sampling frame to support in-depth sub-studies targeted on specific diseases or topic areas. A third aspect of the HRS data system, which is not formally part of the HRS project, is the emergence of a set of longitudinal studies of aging in other countries which have been consciously designed to produce data as comparable as possible to that collected by the HRS. The HRS provides public use data designed to allow the full power and creativity of America's scientific community to address the challenges of an aging population. The HRS is making a significant impact on research on aging through investigator-initiated research which uses the HRS as an input without charge to researchers or granting agencies.