Gerontologic Biostatistics: Merging Aging Research and Analytic Methods

• Activity Number: 262
• Type: Roundtables
• Date/Time: Tuesday, July 31, 2012 : 7:00 AM to 8:15 AM
• Sponsor: Section on Statistics in Epidemiology
• Author(s): Heather Allore and Alden Gross*+
• Companies: Yale University and Institute for Aging Research
• Keywords: gerontologic ; multicomponent ; aging ; observational ; trial design ; translational

Abstract

The health and life circumstances of elders raise challenges for designing and analyzing Aging Research, both sociological and medical. These challenges presented by elders are not unique but they are sufficiently distinctive to form the basis of Gerontologic Biostatistics. Their distinctiveness originates in the multifactorial etiologies of geriatric health syndromes and the social dynamics of later life. This roundtable discusses statistical challenges arising in Aging Research. The statistical challenges include design and analytical strategies for multicomponent interventions, multiple outcomes, state transition models, floor and ceiling effects, missing data, and mixed methods. Practical resources reflecting advances in these areas are available from several sources, among them the Gerontologic Research Algorithms and Statistical Programs grasp.med.Yale.edu. Working with large administrative, observational and trial data will be discussed and strategies explored to best translate research into policy.