The National Health and Aging Trends Study and National Study of Caregiving

Project Summary The purpose of this application is to extend and enhance the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS) and the National Study of Caregiving (NSOC) to promote the study of late-life disability, Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD), and related care. The overarching aims of NHATS and NSOC are to promote scientific inquiry into late-life disability and ADRD trends and dynamics, their antecedents and correlates, and disparities therein, providing the research community with timely, rich, annual data on physical, cognitive, and sensory functioning and family care. Additionally, NHATS and NSOC provide rich data on the consequences of late-life disability and ADRD for individuals, families, and society. To achieve these aims in the next five-year cycle, we will continue the unique key design features of NHATS including annual in person data collection from a nationally representative sample of older adults (Medicare enrollees) in 2024-2028 (Rounds 14-18) and mixed mode (web/phone) follow-up with family caregivers participating in NSOC. We will also implement several innovative scientific enhancements and enrichments of key domains of the disablement process in the NHATS conceptual framework, including: (1) enriched historical and contemporaneous linkages to residential location, enhancing access to measures of life course exposures to factors that shape late-life racial and ethnic health disparities; (2) an expanded accelerometry study to better assess movement, sedentary behavior and sleep patterns as they related to the disablement process and ADRD; and (3) expanded measures in cognitive and sensory functioning, residential care settings, and end-of-life care. Extending and enhancing NHATS and NSOC in these ways will allow important scientific questions to be addressed concerning both shorter and longer-term in-depth trends and dynamics in disability, ADRD, and related care and will guide efforts to maximize functioning and enhance quality of life of older adults and the families who care for them.