Integrative Analysis of Change in Cognition and Health

描述（由申请人提供）：该研究项目关注与年龄相关的认知和健康变化，并在健康和与健康相关的变化（即发病率，共病）的背景下解释认知变化。一个关键目标是确定除实际年龄（即简单的时间流逝）之外的变化过程，这些变化过程可以解释人口和个人在认知功能方面的变化。确定变化过程将通过详细考虑健康指标（发病率和合并症）的个人变化和死亡前的变化模式来进行。对理论的贡献包括集中关注健康作为老龄化相关变化的因果因素，以及社会人口和心理社会影响在预测健康变化和调节健康-认知联系方面的作用。将从人的角度，对主要根据年龄差异发展起来的认知衰老的心理学理论（速度和感觉调解，共同原因）进行强有力的检验。方法学的特点包括：根据死亡率选择对确定的老龄人口进行推断，对相关和耦合变化进行多变量分析，对变化点进行估计，并进行跨国推广。该项目汇集了来自21个老龄化纵向研究的多学科研究小组。对老龄化、健康和认知的综合理解的协调和协作方法将从这些纵向研究中获得重大的知识收获，并允许识别和协调在测量、抽样、人口、社会和健康指标方面发现的跨研究差异。这种广泛的合作具有广泛的多学科专业知识和跨学科的兴趣。在分析方案的发展过程中，保持了观点的多样性，确保了结果的普遍性和评估结果对测量协调、分析和理论模型选择决策的敏感性，同时最大限度地提高了每项研究的数据价值。本研究项目的研究结果将为预防和干预工作提供基础，并通过确定与发病率和合并症相关的发病前和随后的变化，以及这些变化的社会人口统计学和社会心理调节因素，为卫生政策提供信息。通过早期识别表明随后功能丧失和死亡率的变化点，将加强潜在的干预措施。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This program of research focuses on aging-related changes in cognition and health, and in explaining cognitive change in the context of health and health-related change (i.e., morbidity, comorbidity). A key objective is to identify processes of change other than chronological age (i.e., simple passage of time) that account for population and individual-level change in cognitive functions. Identification of processes of change will proceed through detailed consideration of within-person change in health indicators (morbidity and comorbidity) and patterns of change prior to death. Contributions to theory include focused attention on health as a causal factor in aging-related changes and the role of sociodemographic and psychosocial influences in predicting changes in health and moderating the health-cognitive link. Using a within-person perspective, strong tests will be made of psychological theories of cognitive aging (speed and sensory mediation, common cause), developed primarily on the basis of age differences. Methodological features include inference to defined populations of aging individuals conditional on mortality-selection, multivariate analysis of correlated and coupled change, estimation of change-points, and cross-national generalizability. This project brings together multidisciplinary teams of investigators from 21 longitudinal studies on aging. A coordinated and collaborative approach to the integrative understanding of aging, health, and cognition will lead to significant gains in knowledge from these longitudinal studies and permit the identification and reconciliation of differences found across studies in terms of measurement, sampling, demographic, social, and health indicators. This broad collaboration has extensive multidisciplinary expertise and interdisciplinary interests. The diversity of perspectives is maintained in the development of analysis protocols, ensuring generalizability of results and evaluation of the sensitivity of results to decisions regarding measurement harmonization, analysis, and choice of theoretical models, while maximizing data value from each study. The findings from this research program will provide a basis for prevention and intervention efforts and inform health policy by identifying premorbid and subsequent changes associated with morbidity and comorbidity, and sociodemographic and psychosocial moderators of these changes. Potential interventions will be enhanced by early identification of change-points signaling subsequent loss of function and mortality.