Conceptualized as a dynamic process of individual health protective mechanism, disaster preparedness is defined as individual behavior changes in this study, from “not prepared” (NP) stage to “having an intention to prepare” (IP) stage, and ultimately to “already prepared” (AP) stage. Although older adults are much more vulnerable to the health effects of disasters than their middle age and young adult counterparts, the extent to which behavioral transitions from one stage to another differ across the two groups has not been explored.

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is one of the most pronounced public health concerns in the U.S. and cause an enormous burden to the society. In 2019, 14.5 million people of age 12 and older have AUD but only 7.2% of them had received treatment in the past year. Moreover, AUD may be correlated with cognitive decline and dementia could be a onerous burden to Individuals, family members, and the society. Both alcohol consumption and cognitive decline are often correlated to many unoberved factors such as genetics, personality traits, and risk perception therefore resulting in endogneity concerns.

Visual impairment is common in older adults and is associated with negative outcomes such as falls, depression, anxiety, and cognitive impairment. Because half of all vision loss in the U.S. is preventable or treatable, identifying the burden and consequences of age-related visual impairment can lead to interventions to promote access to eye care and improve population health. Administrative claims data (e.g.

The overall aim of this pilot project is to conduct comparative analyses and generate findings on the predictors of cognitive health among older individuals in Ghana and Malawi, two Sub-Saharan African countries at different levels of development, Ghana being low-middle-income country and Malawi a low-income country. Importantly, these findings will inform planned pilot data collection activities to test the Harmonized Cognitive Assessment Protocol  (HCAP) in both countries and the integration of HCAP in the nationally representative WHO SAGE survey in Ghana.

Historically underrepresented populations experience a disproportionate burden of age-related cognitive disorders compared to non-White populations. As a salient resource for coping in Black communities, spirituality may be associated with better brain health, yet research is limited, especially in this population. This study aims to examine: 1) associations between spirituality and cognition, 2) identify possible differences across racial groups and, 3) explore the role of spirituality as a

The proposed project draws on recent advances in bio-informational research, with an aim to investigate how a new type of measurement—called “epigenetic clocks”, which quantifies biological processes related to aging (i.e., biological age)—can better our understanding of individuals’ judgments and decisions. At this time, epigenetic clocks have been previously used in medical research to understand the aging process and human lifespan, and such measures have been shown to be better at capturing variability in biological aging processes than chronological age.

A growing proportion of individuals provide unpaid care to family members and friends (i.e., are family caregivers). Among younger individuals, an estimated 12.7 million young adults (ages 18-34) and 5.4 million youth (aged <18) are family caregivers. As the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has increased disability and comorbidities, it follows an increasing number of young adults and youths may undertake the role of family caregiver.

Diabetes exacts a profound societal cost in terms of morbidity, disability, and mortality. As climate change progresses and further magnifies the negative impacts of extreme outdoor temperatures and air pollution on health, there is urgency in the need for adaptable and personalized diabetes care.

More older adults in the United States are undergoing inpatient surgery than ever before. Older age is a risk factor for greater morbidity and mortality following surgery; therefore, improving the surgical care and outcomes of older adults warrants attention. In this proposal, we focus on one concerning adverse surgical event which is particularly threatening to the postoperative recovery of older adults— prolonged surgical time.

Changes in US lung allocation policies in 2005 and 2017 increased transplants among the sickest and oldest candidates on the waitlist. The impacts of these policy changes on health care utilization and quality of life are not known. Assessing hospital-free days (HFDs) among transplant recipients will provide a better assessment of the post-transplant survivorship experience than simple measures of mortality.