Longitudinal Surveys of the Elderly: STTR Initiative (R41/R42)

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The National Institute on Aging (NIA) has supported longitudinal survey data collection efforts and behavioral interventions in areas such as cognition, genetics, long term care, retirement and economic status, caregiving, behavioral medicine, and the dynamics of health and functional change at older ages. See http://www.nia.nih.gov/NR/rdonlyres/70D7B30D-8C47-402D-9CB2-F5B6932DA52C/0/datasets.pdf for descriptions of publicly available databases for aging-related secondary analyses supported by the NIA. Complex and large-scale socio-behavioral surveys related to adult health and aging are being developed all over the world. The demand for new, innovative technologies such as computer assisted interviewing, incorporation of biological and physiological measures, and user-friendly longitudinal databases associated with this trend has been expanding for several years. Longitudinal surveys often become more difficult to use over time due to increased complexity in the composition of the sample and/or the addition of new survey components, coupled with inconsistent data files and inadequate documentation. User friendly data use files are of interest not only to academic researchers, but to insurers, health care providers, HMOs, pharmaceutical companies and policy analysts.

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