BENZODIAZEPINE USE AND RISK OF DISABILITY IN THE ELDERLY

描述(改编自申请者摘要)：申请者陈述 她的长期职业目标是成为一名独立调查员， 关注在中国使用药物的不良健康后果 老年人，利用药物流行病学原理。她目前 香港大学药学院助理教授职级 申请机构。她已经完成了为期两年的药学研究 老年医学院士，在不良反应领域进行研究。 药物对老年人的影响，并提供临床服务，作为 老年医疗队。为了实现她的事业目标，她提议合并 她的临床药学背景和流行病学方法方面的专业知识 在5年内：1)完成课程--攻读硕士学位 加州大学公共与社区卫生学院学位 2)在华盛顿的指导下进行有监督的研究 她的赞助人(大卫·布克纳和共同赞助人)(安德烈亚斯·斯特加奇和 安德里亚·拉克罗瓦) 老年人使用苯二氮卓类药物的一些不良健康后果是 已经确立，并代表了一个重大的公共卫生问题。然而， 根据申请者的说法，关于这些代理人是否 为残疾进程作出贡献。在拟议的颁奖期间， 申请人计划确定苯二氮卓类药物的使用是否与 在日常活动中失去行动能力，失去独立性 3年内的生活(ADL)、卫生服务的使用和死亡率 在社区居住的老年人的学习时间。这项研究将使用数据 来自四项由联邦政府资助、以人口为基础的大型纵向研究 在老年人中，有大约17,000人的数据。使用 建议使用以下数据集：已建立的总体 老年流行病学研究；妇女健康和老龄化研究； 心血管健康研究；团体健康合作示范 项目。这四个结果将在每个数据集中进行评估，并且 这些数据将被汇集起来进行荟萃分析。从第三节开始 建议授权期的年份，申请人计划提交 额外的竞争性拨款，并启动其他领域的研究 与老年人的用药和不良健康后果有关， 与她的赞助商密切合作。

DESCRIPTION (Adapted from applicant's abstract): The applicant states that her long-term career goal is to become an independent investigator, focusing on the adverse health outcomes of medication use in the elderly, by utilizing principles of pharmacoepidemology. She currently holds the rank of Assistant Professor in the School of Pharmacy at the applicant institution. She has completed a 2-year research pharmacy fellowship in geriatrics, has conducted research in the area of adverse drug effects in the elderly, and provides clinical services as part of geriatric team. To meet her career objectives, she is proposing to merg her clinical pharmacy background with expertise in epidemiologic methods over a 5-year period by: 1) completing course-work towards a master's degree in the School of Public and Community Health, University of Washington; and 2) conducting supervised research under the guidance of her sponser (David Buchner and co-sponsers (Andreas Stergachis and Andrea LaCroix) Some adverse health consequences of benzodiazepine use in elderly are established and represent a significant public health concern. Yet, according to the applicant, little is known about whether these agents contribute to the disability process. During the proposed award, the applicant plans to determine if benzodiazepine use is associated with the losss of mobility, loss of independence in activities of daily living (ADLs), use of health services, and mortality over a 3- year study period in community dwelling elderly. This research will use data from four large, federally-funded, population-based logitudinal studies of the elderly, containg data on approximately 17,000 individuals. Use of the following data sets is proposed: Established Populations for Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly; Women's Health and Aging Study; Cardiovascular Health Study; and Group Health Cooperative Demonstration Project. The four outcomes will be evaluated within each dataset, and the data will be poooled for a meta-analysis. Beginning in the third year of the proposed award period, the applicant plans to submit additional competitive grants, and initiate research in other areas related to medication use and adverse health outcomes in the elderly, working closely with her sponsors.