Understanding Cross-National Health Differences at Older Ages and Their Causes

其他项目信息-项目概要/摘要 了解老年人的跨国健康差异及其原因 该项目旨在促进对健康及其原因的跨国差异的理解，特别是 评估卫生保健系统、覆盖面和质量、健康行为、生活方式、收入和 财富分配和历史生活环境。理解差异和原因需要 在数据收集方面不存在跨国差异的可比健康计量， 报告风格。在这方面，血液样本分析是客观健康测量的黄金标准。 该项目将扩展早期基于血液的美国之间的健康比较（基于健康和 退休研究（HRS）和英国（基于英国老龄化纵向研究（艾尔莎）） 欧洲（根据欧洲健康、老龄化和退休调查）。SHARE是一个大型 根据HRS和艾尔莎模型进行的人群代表性小组研究。健康变量严格统一 包括自我报告的健康，ADL和IADL，身体测量，如握力， 力量、峰值流量和椅子站立，以及一系列认知和心理健康测试。份额 获得了关于医疗保健系统和生活方式，经济，工作和社会环境的非常丰富的数据， 生命历程，以及健康行为和卫生保健干预的个人历史。 SHARE还从大约27000名50岁及以上的受访者中收集了干血斑样本（DBSS） 13个欧洲大陆国家。HRS还在最近几波中收集了DBSS。虽然DBSS并不完美， 替代静脉血（VB）样本获得的艾尔莎和目前的HRS，取得了很大进展 最近在理解从DBSS获得的值如何对应于VB值方面取得了进展。我们有 进行了广泛的验证，显示DBSS和VB值之间的紧密对齐后，纠正 在实验室和现场过程中发生的系统因素。 该项目有四个具体目标： 1.充分利用华盛顿大学实验室的专业知识， SHARE波6中收集的DBSS用于血脂和2型糖尿病（T2DM）分析 与一般健康和认知能力下降相关的生物标志物。 2.将实验室分析与SHARE功能和主观健康、人口统计学、社会和 经济数据，创建一个用户友好的数据库并将其存档。 3.协调从SHARE DBS、艾尔莎VB和HRS DBS和VB试验中获得的数据。 4.利用这些数据对不同国家之间的差异之间的关系进行统计分析， 健康、经济、工作和社会环境、健康行为和卫生保健干预。

OTHER PROJECT INFORMATION – Project Summary/Abstract Understanding Cross-National Health Differences at Older Ages and Their Causes This project aims to foster understanding of cross-national differences in health and their causes, especially evaluating differences in health care systems, coverage and quality, health behaviors, life styles, income and wealth distributions and historical life circumstances. Understanding differences and causes requires comparable measurements of health which do not suffer from cross-national differences in data collection and reporting styles. In this respect, analyses of blood samples are a gold standard of objective health measurement. The project will extend earlier blood-based health comparisons between the US (based on the Health and Retirement Study, HRS) and the UK (based on the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, ELSA) to Continental Europe (based on the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe, SHARE). SHARE is a large population-representative panel study modelled after the HRS and ELSA. Health variables strictly harmonized across the three studies include self-reported health, ADLs and IADLs, physical measurements such as grip strength, peak flow and chair stand, and a large battery of tests for cognition and mental health. SHARE has obtained very rich data on health care systems and life styles, on economic, work and social circumstances over the life course, and individual histories of health behaviors and health care interventions. SHARE has also collected dried blood spot samples (DBSS) from about 27.000 respondents aged 50 and older in 13 Continental European countries. HRS has also collected DBSS in recent waves. While DBSS are not perfect substitutes for the venous blood (VB) samples obtained by ELSA and currently by HRS, much progress has recently been made in understanding how values obtained from DBSS correspond to VB values. We have performed extensive validations which show a tight alignment between DBSS and VB values after correcting for systematic factors that occur during the laboratory and field processes. The project has four specific aims: 1. Capitalize upon the expertise of the laboratory at the University of Washington by having the full set of DBSS collected in SHARE wave 6 assayed for the lipid panel and type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) biomarkers relevant to general health and cognitive decline. 2. Link the laboratory analyses with the SHARE functional and subjective health, demographic, social, and economic data, create a user-friendly database and archive it. 3. Harmonize the data obtained from the assays of SHARE DBS, ELSA VB and HRS DBS and VB. 4. Use these data to perform statistical analyses on the relationships between cross-national differences in health, economic, work and social circumstances, health behaviors and health care interventions.