Design and Analytic Challenges of Conducting Biomedical Research with Older Populations: Steps Toward a Gerontologic Biostatistics

• Activity Number: 300
• Type: Luncheons
• Date/Time: Tuesday, August 8, 2006 : 12:30 PM to 1:50 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Statistics in Epidemiology
• Author(s): Peter H. Van Ness*+ and Heather G. Allore
• Companies: Yale University and Yale University
• Keywords: biostatistics ; gerontology ; multicomponent trials ; missing data ; clinical tradeoffs

Abstract

Multifactorial etiologies of geriatric health syndromes and multiple morbidities of elderly patients present challenges for designing and analyzing clinical research studies in which they participate. The objective of this roundtable is to discuss a set of statistical issues that, while not unique to gerontologic research, constitute a distinctive ensemble worthy of deliberate and systematic attention (e.g., design of multicomponent intervention trials, regression modeling with missing data, evaluation of clinical tradeoffs, and integration of qualitative studies with quantitative analyses). The session will conclude with discussion of a proposed subdiscipline of gerontologic biostatistics, whose pedagogical implementation should prepare statisticians for collaborating in clinical research with geriatricians, gerontologists, and elderly populations.