DEVELOPMENT OF COMORBIDITY INDEX FOR ARTHRITIS RESEARCH

在拟议的五年赠款期间的总体目标是发展 进一步的技能和知识基础的独立研究人员。 的 这项资助的研究目标是开发一个共同发展指数， 关节炎和康复研究。 拟议补助金的范围包括研究的具体内容， 教育和临床培训。 以关节炎为模型， 疾病与身体功能状态之间的关系， 研究目标是确定关节炎对身体的具体影响， 老年人对合并症的同时影响的作用 在功能上。 会议期间将进行的研究的具体目标 赠款期间的初始阶段是：1）进行二级数据 分析来自心脏研究的数据， 放射学定义的骨关节炎与特定 医学合并症和2）制定一个指数，以说明合并的 其他合并症对老年人身体功能的影响 关节炎导向的功能状态研究。 的具体目标 教育部分是：1）发展高级技能， 流行病学研究大型数据集的统计处理; 2） 提高临床试验设计和纵向分析的能力 老年人的功能和衰退; 3）建立跨学科的 与老年医学系同事的关系， 波士顿大学公共卫生学院 的具体目标 该补助金的临床培训部分是：1）获得加强 掌握老年临床医学问题及其相互关系 跨学科的康复干预和2）作为一个 物理治疗和康复的教学资源，以部门 的 关节炎和老年病。 这些目标将通过波士顿监督的一项计划来实现 大学关节炎科科长，博士罗伯特F。Meenan，MD，MPH，和 在波士顿大学关节炎科的赞助下进行 大学医学院及其对口机构，波士顿 大学公共卫生学院。

The overall goal during the proposed five year grant period is to develop further the skills and knowledge base of an independent researcher. The research goal of this grant is to develop a comorbidity index for use in arthritis and rehabilitation research. The scope of the proposed grant includes specific elements of research, education and clinical training. Using arthritis as a model for the relationship between a disease and physical functional status, the overall research goal is to define the specific impact of arthritis on the physical function of elders accounting for the simultaneous impacts of comorbidities on function. The specific aims of the research to be undertaken during the initial phase of the grant period are to: 1) conduct a secondary data analysis of data from the Framingham Heart Study to determine the association of radiographically-defined osteoarthritis with specific medical comorbidities and 2) develop an index to account for the combined effects of other comorbidities on physical function in the elderly in arthritis-oriented functional status research. The specific aims of the educational component are to: 1) develop advanced level skill in the statistical manipulation of large data sets for epidemiological study; 2) enhance capacity in the design of clinical trials and longitudinal analyses of function and decline in the elderly; and 3) establish interdisciplinary relationships with colleagues in the Department of Geriatric Medicine and the School of Public Health at Boston University. The specific aims of the clinical training component of this grant are to: 1) obtain enhanced mastery of problems in geriatric clinical medicine and their relationship to interdisciplinary rehabilitation interventions and 2) serve as a teaching resource in physical therapy and rehabilitation to the Departments of Arthritis and Geriatrics. These aims will be accomplished through a program supervised by Boston University Arthritis Section Chief, Dr. Robert F. Meenan, MD, MPH, and conducted under the auspices of the Arthritis Section of the Boston University School of Medicine and its counterpart institution, the Boston University School of Public Health.