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NIA Study Reveals Key Findings on Aging
By
Michael A. Piekarz
Staff Writer
The
National Institute of Aging (NIA) “Health and Retirement Study” (HRS)
has revealed that cognitive impairment among older Americans is on
the decline and that better healthcare may be the reason.
“These data suggest that we may be experiencing a shift in the cognitive
health of older Americans,” said Richard J. Hodes, M.D., director of the
NIA.
“Continuing to track trends will be critically important both for chronicling
changes in brain health and for achieving a better understanding of factors that
may play a role.”
The HRS is a national examination of health, retirement and economic conditions
of more than 20,000 men and women over age-50. It was conducted by researchers
from the University of Michigan, University of Pennsylvania, and Group Health
Cooperative of Puget Sound in Seattle. The National Institute of Mental Health
provided additional support.
“Although the trend of improving cognitive health is consistent with chronic
disability reductions since 1984 in those aged 65 and older, replication in other
studies is essential,” said Richard Suzman, Ph.D., director of NIA’s
Social and Behavioral Research Program, which oversees the HRS.
“I’d like to see further analysis of how education, exercise, medications,
cardiovascular health and lifestyle affect cognitive functioning.”
The HRS is the first long-term study on the health impact of an aging America.
In addition to tracking the health of older people, the study accumulated data
on factors such as wealth, education and access to healthcare as indicators of
overall senior health.
The researchers suggest that improved treatment for stroke, heart disease and
vascular conditions between 1993 and 2002 might have been factors in the improvement.
A recent study by Harvard University Medical School in conjunction with HRS found
a correlation between health coverage, improved health and improved cardiovascular
health.
The Harvard study also found that individuals who lacked insurance experienced
a steeper decline in health as compared to their insured counterparts prior to
age-65. But after five years of Medicare coverage, this health gap closed by
50 percent. The impact of coverage was greatest for those with a history of heart
disease, stroke, high blood pressure or diabetes.
“While it may seem self-evident that gaining health insurance should improve
health, some experts have questioned this assumption,” said Dr. J. Michael
McWilliams, a research associate in Harvard Medical School’s Department
of Health Care Policy.
“By comparing the health trends of insured and uninsured adults as they
became eligible for Medicare, we were able to measure the impact of coverage
on health in a more rigorous way.”
An earlier Harvard study showed that uninsured adults transitioning
to Medicare end up costing the system more in annual medical
spending after age-65 when compared
with continuously-insured individuals. The most recent study and others based
on accumulated HRS data support health coverage as a way of lowering long-term
care costs as people age.
A University of Michigan study based on HRS showed that those
with cognitive impairments such as dementia received substantially
more informal help than those
with normal cognitive function.
This help includes assistance with basic daily activities
such as bathing, dressing, eating and fixing meals, and
with less frequent activities including grocery
shopping and managing money.
“Helping those with dementia places a significant burden on both families
and society, and this burden increases sharply as the level of cognitive impairment
progresses from mild to severe,” said Dr. Kenneth Langa, assistant
professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School
and faculty
associate at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research.
“Both physicians and policymakers will be confronted with difficult choices
regarding the allocation of healthcare resources as the U.S. population ages
and the prevalence of dementia increases,” says A. Mark Fendrick, M.D.,
study co-author and University of Michigan associate professor of internal
medicine.
Researchers said the findings will need to be explored further
to see if they can be observed in other studies and to
pinpoint factors influencing cognition
or the ability to think, learn and remember.
This page and its contents ©2008
Metropolitan News Company, Inc.
