Population and Social Processes

Centers on the Demography and Economics of Aging

The Centers on the Demography and Economics of Aging (D&E Centers) support all scientific areas within PSP. The purpose of the D&E Centers program is to foster and grow science within the areas of the demography and economics of aging through a range of activities, including pilot projects, establishing research networks, holding conferences and workshops on scientific areas of focus, developing and promoting research resources and infrastructure, and sharing results and resources with scientific and policy communities as well as the public.

Population Representative Studies

Population Representative Studies (POP) focus on the development, implementation, and sharing of multidisciplinary longitudinal data on well-defined representative populations to support more generalizable research on aging and Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (AD/ADRD). POP studies generate publicly available data to support research in fields including cognitive and dementia epidemiology, social epidemiology, health economics, demography, biodemography, population genetics, population geroscience, gerontology, and the developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD). Areas of emphasis include:

• Large nationally representative random samples with rich longitudinal data to support life course research
• Educational cohorts spanning multiple generations to elucidate how education and other social factors shape health over the life course
• Linking biological/genetic, physical/cognitive performance, administrative (e.g., Medicare) and contextual data to support multidisciplinary aging and AD/ADRD research
• The development of international comparator studies and harmonization efforts in different social, environmental, cultural, and economic contexts to foster cross-national studies
• Design of programs to increase discoverability and safely share all research data with the research community efficiently
• Methodological and developmental studies to collect and analyze data on rare populations, optimize survey response, and advance novel modes of data collection

Contact the Population Representative Studies (POP) Program Staff: NIABSRPSPPOP@mail.nih.gov .

Macro-Social Factors

Branch Chief: Amelia Karraker, Ph.D.

Macro-Social Factors (MSF) supports studies examining the cultural, demographic, social, and economic factors outside of the healthcare system that drive population trends and disparities at older ages and across the life course in biological aging, physical and cognitive functioning (including AD/ADRD), disability, morbidity, mortality, health, and well-being. Examples include:

• The role of a variety of life course exposures across domains (e.g., physical, chemical, social, psychological, economic) in the environments where people live, work, pray, and play across their lives in shaping health outcomes, including AD/ADRD outcomes (i.e., the “exposome”) and their distribution across the population across demographics, time, and space
• The influence of economic factors like unemployment, recessions, income uncertainty, socioeconomic status as risk factors for poor health and variation within and across groups
• Understanding how demographic processes/change influence health outcomes (e.g., influence of generational change in family structures on care, living arrangements, and well-being of older people)
• The impact of education, early life exposures, social institutions/policies, and socioeconomic status/income on aging, dementia, and other health outcomes over time and across generations
• Drivers of the spatial distribution of health and longevity across geographic units
• The integration of demographic and biological theory and methods to study the impact of social factors on aging, health, and longevity
• The effect of social networks and social contexts on health, and vice versa
• Interrelationships between work, family, and health
• The relationships between occupational exposures/experiences, health, and disability in midlife and at older ages
• The estimation of the population level impact of social and behavioral randomized control trials (RCTs) via social programs (e.g., income maintenance, eviction moratoriums, public health policies, etc.)
• The integration of genetic information in social science models for improved causal inference
• The integration of social and economic information in studies with rich biological and genetic information to improve understanding of variation across populations
• Projects in biodemography of aging and population geroscience that make use of genetic, epigenetic, and other biological information
• Genetic epidemiology of behavioral, social, and economic traits relevant to aging and AD/ADRD

Contact the Macrosocial Factors (MSF) Program Staff: NIABSRPSPMSF@mail.nih.gov .

Health Systems Research

Branch Chief: Priscilla Novak, Ph.D.

Health Systems Research (HSR) supports observational, experimental and quasi-experimental studies on the influence of the health care system on health, aging and AD/ADRD and on the health care needs of midlife and older adults. Health care systems include health care providers and organizations, long-term services and supports (LTSS) systems, and home and community-based services (HCBS). HSR supports studies on the effect of payment practices, insurance design, and financing on health care access, use, and outcomes as well as research on models of care and care delivery to improve health, health care delivery, and quality of care. Our experimental research considers provider-level and policy interventions in health care systems, including pragmatic trials and behavioral economics approaches, to improve quality of care and health outcomes. HSR includes a focus on the economic impact of AD/ADRD on individuals, families, and society, and the impact of innovations in care on access, utilization, outcomes, and costs. A cross-cutting theme is U.S. regional and international comparative studies of different health and LTSS systems on expenditures and outcomes at older ages. Health Systems Research examines:

• Influence of payment practices, insurance design, and financing on health care access, use, and outcomes
• Research on models of care and care delivery to improve health, health delivery, and quality of care
• Provider-level or policy interventions in health care and LTSS systems, including pragmatic trials and behavioral economics approaches, to improve quality of care and health outcomes
• Causal Inference from health system generated observational data (EHR, Patient Portal, CMS, Survey, etc.) and Data Quality
• Understanding the aging and dementia health care workforce
• Health system innovations in dementia care, palliative care, and end of life care
• Health services and health care financing for older people with multiple chronic conditions
• Costs of care and treatment for AD/ADRD and the influence of innovations in care on access, utilization, outcomes, and costs
• Comparative studies of different health and LTSS systems on expenditures and outcomes at older ages

Contact the Health Systems Research (HSR) Program Staff: NIABSRPSPHSR@mail.nih.gov .

DBSR