R01AG072459

The Great Smoky Mountains Study of Rural Aging - Abstract

This application proposes data collection to augment the longitudinal Great Smoky Mountains Study (GSMS) to create a national data resource, the Great Smoky Mountains Study of Rural Aging (GSMS-RA), for the study of early determinants of the aging experience in a rural context. This proposal builds on a study that is already distinctive: community-representative design; repeated in-depth assessments across multiple developmental periods; high retention (82.5% interviewed at Wave 12/age 30); longitudinal banked bloodspots available for assaying; longitudinal geospatial coding; large high-risk American Indian subsample; embedded quasi-experiment of income transfers; and multi-generational assessments.

We propose to add a full assessment of participants' health, health risks, and cognitive, social, and economic functioning in their early 40s (Aim 1). This aim involves locating, recontacting, and assessing 80%+ of the GSMS participants with a 120-minute in-home assessment, including collection of demographic and socioeconomic and attitudinal information, neurocognitive tasks, and biomeasure collection.

We also propose to evaluate everyday life and the rural context of adults in rural Appalachia (Aim 2). This aim involves following participants for 6 months with 1) an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) protocol assessing within-subject variability in health, wellness, economic, and social functioning (every other week; 26 times total), 2) actigraphy to assess physical activity and sleep (3-1 week observations), and 3) geospatial movement using GPS monitoring to assess activity space. This in-depth individual information will be coupled with community and neighborhood profiles assessed via census data linkage to block groups/census tracts, systematic social observations of neighborhoods, and participant/neighborhood surveys on collective efficacy (i.e., social cohesion and informal social control).

We propose to harmonize data collected in this project with key aging studies to facilitate urban/rural and Appalachia/national comparisons (Aim 3). This aim involves harmonizing measures of core constructs to maximize overlap with key aging studies, creating cross-walked codebooks between GSMS and key studies, and constructing multi-study model datasets.

Finally, we propose to create a comprehensive data-sharing program (Aim 4). This program will maximize access and use of GSMS-RA for a new audience of users, scientists, and potential collaborators. The project brings together longstanding GSMS researchers (Copeland, Dodge, and Aberg) with new collaborators who have led large-scale data collection projects in middle and later adulthood (Hotz and Cagney).

The proposed project is methodologically innovative in gathering high-quality data on everyday life via GPS monitoring and an EMA design coupled with actigraphy and rural context profiles via a combination of census and other administrative data, systematic social observations, and participant/neighbor surveys. This proposal looks to develop a new resource that captures the full arc of a life with intimate detail about living and aging in a rural context.

University Of Vermont & State Agricultural College

TO ENCOURAGE BIOMEDICAL, SOCIAL, AND BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH AND RESEARCH TRAINING DIRECTED TOWARD GREATER UNDERSTANDING OF THE AGING PROCESS AND THE DISEASES, SPECIAL PROBLEMS, AND NEEDS OF PEOPLE AS THEY AGE. THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON AGING HAS ESTABLISHED PROGRAMS TO PURSUE THESE GOALS. THE DIVISION OF AGING BIOLOGY EMPHASIZES UNDERSTANDING THE BASIC BIOLOGICAL PROCESSES OF AGING. THE DIVISION OF GERIATRICS AND CLINICAL GERONTOLOGY SUPPORTS RESEARCH TO IMPROVE THE ABILITIES OF HEALTH CARE PRACTITIONERS TO RESPOND TO THE DISEASES AND OTHER CLINICAL PROBLEMS OF OLDER PEOPLE. THE DIVISION OF BEHAVIORAL AND SOCIAL RESEARCH SUPPORTS RESEARCH THAT WILL LEAD TO GREATER UNDERSTANDING OF THE SOCIAL, CULTURAL, ECONOMIC AND PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS THAT AFFECT BOTH THE PROCESS OF GROWING OLD AND THE PLACE OF OLDER PEOPLE IN SOCIETY. THE DIVISION OF NEUROSCIENCE FOSTERS RESEARCH CONCERNED WITH THE AGE-RELATED CHANGES IN THE NERVOUS SYSTEM AS WELL AS THE RELATED SENSORY, PERCEPTUAL, AND COGNITIVE PROCESSES ASSOCIATED WITH AGING AND HAS A SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE. SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH (SBIR) PROGRAM: TO EXPAND AND IMPROVE THE SBIR PROGRAM, TO INCREASE PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIALIZATION OF INNOVATIONS DERIVED FROM FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, TO INCREASE SMALL BUSINESS PARTICIPATION IN FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, AND TO FOSTER AND ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION OF SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS IN TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION. SMALL BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER (STTR) PROGRAM: TO STIMULATE AND FOSTER SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION THROUGH COOPERATIVE RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT CARRIED OUT BETWEEN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS, TO FOSTER TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER BETWEEN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS, TO INCREASE PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIALIZATION OF INNOVATIONS DERIVED FROM FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, AND TO FOSTER AND ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION OF SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS IN TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION.

93.866 - Aging Research

National Institute on Aging (NIA) [HHS - NIH]

Burlington, Vermont 054013444 United States

Single Zip Code

NIH Research Project Grant (Parent R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) (PA-20-185)

Amendment Since initial award the total obligations have increased 362% from $688,671 to $3,182,182.