BENZODIAZEPINE USE AND RISK OF DISABILITY IN THE ELDERLY

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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.