CORE--EPIDEMIOLOGY CORE

HRCA/Harvard RNH的流行病学核心将是该项目的基础，因为它将聚集并维持一群老年人，他们将在资助期间参与所有三个项目。在此资助的前四个5年周期中，项目从我们的志愿者主题登记处、报纸广告、养老院和社区住房站点中招募了方便样本。我们现在正在采用一种更一般化的方法，设计一种基于人口的招聘策略。我们将与马萨诸塞大学波士顿调查研究中心合作，在HRCA周围有限的地理半径内挨家挨户地招募样本。哈佛/HRCA RNH的流行病学核心将招募样本，执行基线和

The Epidemiology Core of the HRCA/Harvard RNH will be the foundation for the program project in that it will assemble and maintain a cohort of older persons who will be involved in all 3 of the projects during the grant period. Over the previous four 5-year cycles of this grant, projects have recruited convenience samples from our volunteer subject registry, newspaper advertisements, nursing homes, and community housing sites. We are now undertaking a more generalizable approach by designing a population-based recruitment strategy. We will use door-to-door recruitment of a sample from a limited geographic radius surrounding the HRCA in collaboration with the University of Massachusetts, Boston, Center for Survey Research. The Epidemiology Core of the Harvard/HRCA RNH will recruit the sample, perform baseline and two annual follow up assessments conducted in the home and at the HRCA, will provide subjects for all three projects, and will use all available strategies to maximize retention of the cohort during the duration of the project. The specific aims of this Core are (1) to recruit a diverse, elderly (70 years of age and older), population-based sample from a defined geographic area surrounding the HRCA in Boston. This will be accomplished using census block sampling and door-to-door recruitment. Using both in-home and center-based visits, the core will characterize participants' baseline clinical, functional, and cognitive conditions; measure their gait, balance, cerebrovascular reactivity, orthostatic blood pressure, presence and features of pain, sensory function, and falls risk. Appropriate subjects will be referred to each of the three projects. All subjects will be followed for the occurrence of falls over 2 years of follow up using fall diary methods. Maximal follow up until death of participants or the end of the study period will be achieved using all available retention techniques. (2) This core will also continue to maintain and expand a registry of subjects interested in laboratory-based research, and will disseminate information to the population through its newsletter and seminars. This is a significant project for several reasons including the population based recruitment using door to door techniques, the assessement of novel risk factors and mechanisms of falls, the potential benefits to the community surrounding the HRCA and the creation of a valuable database to foster future research beyond the scope of this proposal.