Depression and Physical Functioning in Older Adults

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed research is in response to PA-00-019, Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (K01). The candidate is an Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Duke University. Duke University has a well-established research program in the areas of psychiatric epidemiology and multi-dimensional aspects of aging. The candidate has a strong background in survey research and holds graduate degrees in epidemiology. Her immediate career goals are to further increase her substantive expertise in aging, geriatric psychiatry, and psychiatric epidemiology with a continued focus on depression in late life, develop her quantitative skills through the use of advanced statistical models for the analysis of longitudinal data, and become more proficient in the publication process. Long-term career goals include the conduct of investigator-initiated research within the environment of an academic research center. The proposed plan will include time for independent study, attendance at seminars, conducting data analysis and learning new statistical techniques, manuscript preparation, and developing independent R01 applications near the completion of the award. The proposed research project will be undertaken to explore the interrelationship of depression and physical functioning in a community sample of older adults over time. Specifically, the aims will be 1) to develop an explanatory model of this interrelationship; 2) to compare the trajectories of depression and physical functioning over a ten-year follow-up period; and 3) to identify demographic and social factors as well as indicators of physical health status that affect these trajectories overtime. Data from the Duke Established Populations of Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly (EPESE) will be used to develop the model and address the dynamics of the depression and functioning relationship.