Sexuality, Aging and Heart Disease: Translating from Population to Patient

描述(由申请人提供)：比森职业发展奖是由芝加哥大学提出的，旨在推动候选人Stacy Lindau医学博士在与临床相关的衰老研究中成为富有成效的独立研究人员和领导者。她的长期职业目标是通过设计有效的、以疾病为重点的临床干预措施，从根本上改变对老年人性行为的态度和看法。在患有慢性病的老年人，特别是妇女中，尚不存在针对疾病的方法来预防和管理性问题的证据基础。 到目前为止，林道博士的工作主要是与社会科学家合作，使用基于人口的调查研究方法。这项研究证实，许多老年人性生活活跃，性问题非常普遍，医生与老年人(尤其是女性)就性问题进行交流的情况很少发生。 作为一名在治疗女性性问题方面拥有临床经验的妇科研究员，林道博士的直接职业目标是将她的老年性研究重点从人群转移到患者身上。具体地说，她的目标是确定老年女性心肌梗死对性行为的影响，谁是最危险的，以及可以做些什么来预防和改善一次毫升后的负性后遗症。她将使用基于人群和临床观察的数据、定性方法，并通过开展临床试验可行性研究来做到这一点。从人群转移到患者需要大量新的培训、技能和研究经验，包括在临床心脏病学和老年病学、临床试验设计和实施、共病和疾病严重程度调整、风险分层工具开发以及评估临床结果和干预效果的分析方法方面的指导培训。有了这些新技能，林道博士将成为一名接受过交叉培训的独一无二的老年研究人员，他的工作和领导力可以推动老年学和老年病学对老年人性行为的研究。 一个雄心勃勃的四年计划被提出，适合林道博士的经验水平，在一个极好的研究环境中。导师制将有助于确保林道博士的成功，并将促进与老年医生和其他临床专家开展富有成效的、持久的合作。比森奖将把林道博士和她的事业与临床衰老研究人员的主要网络联系起来，并将使她成为老龄研究领域的领导者和激励他人。 相关性：性活动和功能与晚年的整体健康密切相关，但医学上对老年人性问题的关注令人沮丧。这项研究将为设计和评估干预措施提供证据基础，以预防、识别和干预患有常见疾病的老年人经历的高度普遍但在很大程度上被忽视的痛苦问题。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A Beeson Career Development Award is proposed by the University of Chicago to advance the candidate, Stacy Lindau, MD, to productive, independent investigatorship and leadership in clinically-relevant aging research. Her long-term career goal is to fundamentally alter the approach to and outlook for older adult sexuality by designing effective and disease-focused clinical interventions. An evidence base does not yet exist for disease-specific approaches to prevention and management of sexual problems among older adults with chronic illness, especially women. Dr. Lindau's work, to date, has been mainly in collaboration with social scientists using population-based survey research methods. This research establishes that many older adults are sexually active, sexual problems are highly prevalent and that physician communication with older adults about sexuality (particularly women) infrequently occurs. As a gynecologist researcher with clinical experience in treatment of female sexual problems, Dr. Lindau's immediate career goal is to move her gerosexuality research focus from population to patient. Specifically, she aims to identify how myocardial infarction in older women affects sexuality, who is most at risk, and what can be done to prevent and ameliorate negative sexual sequelae following an Ml. She will do this using population-based and clinical observational data, qualitative methods, and by carrying out a clinical trial feasibility study. Moving from population to patient requires substantial new, training, skills and research experience, including mentored training in clinical cardiology and geriatrics, clinical trials design and implementation, comorbidity and disease severity adjustment, risk stratification tool development, and analytic methods for assessing clinical outcomes and intervention effectiveness. With these new skills, Dr. Lindau is poised to become a uniquely cross-trained, translational researcher in aging whose work and leadership can advance both gerontology and geriatrics approaches to older adult sexuality. An ambitious four year plan is proposed, appropriate to Dr. Lindau's level of experience, in an excellent research environment. Mentorship will help ensure Dr. Lindau's success and will facilitate development of productive, lasting collaborations with geriatricians and other clinical specialists. The Beeson Award will link Dr. Lindau and her career to the premier network of clinical aging researchers and will position her to lead and inspire others in aging research. RELEVANCE: Sexual activity and function are strongly associated with overall health in later life, yet medical attention to sexual concerns of older adults is dismal. This research will provide an evidence base for design and evaluation of interventions to prevent, identify and intervene upon a highly prevalent, but largely ignored, spectrum of distressing problems experienced by older adults with common illnesses.