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Aging & Geriatrics

Study Examples | Key Publications | Intro

The world’s population is aging, and many well-informed and demanding U.S. "baby boomers" are entering their golden years. So it’s only fitting that much of the research at Group Health Center for Health Studies (CHS) contributes to helping seniors to lead healthier lives.

"Research on aging cuts across virtually everything the Center does," says Eric B. Larson, MD, MPH, the senior investigator who directs CHS. This includes studies of older women’s health, mental health issues in the elderly, and controlling cancers and chronic illnesses that become more common with age. And at the Center’s MacColl Institute for Healthcare Innovation, researchers are developing new models of geriatric care.

In addition, Larson is leading investigators from CHS and the University of Washington (UW) in a major research program that enrolls Group Health members aged 65 and older into various studies that are helping to discover what it means to grow old. Launched in 1987, the program originally focused on one of the major maladies associated with aging, Alzheimer’s disease (AD)—the neurodegenerative disease of the "oldest old," involving memory loss, behavioral problems, loss of language, progressive disability, and death. However, the study population now participates in a broader range of investigations. "A passion for me is to look not only at the downside of aging—which can be Alzheimer’s—but also at the upside, which is more successful aging," says Larson. For example, he and his colleagues are surveying Group Health enrollees to find out the kind of aging they aspire to. "We want to design care that provides for these patient-valued outcomes," he says.

Study Examples | Key Publications | Intro

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