Biomedical subjects

Willard L Rodgers

Publications and source records attributed to Willard L Rodgers.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

The Aging, Demographics, and Memory Study: study design and methods.

OBJECTIVE: We describe the design and methods of the Aging, Demographics, and Memory Study (ADAMS), a new national study that will provide data on the antecedents, prevalence, outcomes, and costs of dementia and "cognitive impairment, not demented" (CIND) using a unique study design based on the nationally representative Health and Retirement Study (HRS). We also illustrate potential uses of the ADAMS data and provide information to interested researchers on obtaining ADAMS and HRS data. METHODS: The ADAMS is the first population-based study of dementia in the United States to include subjects from all regions of the country, while at the same time using a single standardized diagnostic protocol in a community-based sample. A sample of 856 individuals age 70 or older who were participants in the ongoing HRS received an extensive in-home clinical and neuropsychological assessment to determine a diagnosis of normal, CIND, or dementia. Within the CIND and dementia categories, subcategories (e.g. Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia) were assigned to denote the etiology of cognitive impairment. CONCLUSION: Linking the ADAMS dementia clinical assessment data to the wealth of available longitudinal HRS data on health, health care utilization, informal care, and economic resources and behavior, will provide a unique opportunity to study the onset of CIND and dementia in a nationally representative population-based sample, as well as the risk factors, prevalence, outcomes, and costs of CIND and dementia.

Aging↗

PubMed2005

Faith factors and internal health locus of control in patients prior to open-heart surgery.

This study explored the relationships between faith factors and internal health locus of control (IHLC) beliefs. Based on a review of different relationships of perceived control, spiritual surrender and faith factors in the liberation, we assumed a multivariate association among them. Using data from two sequential interviews and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons' Adult Cardiac Database, we tested these associations in a final sample of 202 middle-aged and older patients undergoing open-heart surgery. Primary findings from two-step multiple regression analyses supported hierarchical multi-faceted hypotheses. Greater internal control was positively associated with private prayer for coping, an event-specific, 'vicarious' control strategy, but negatively related to subjective religiosity, general faith measure controlling for other confounders, especially cardiac-significant ones.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed2003

Trends in scores on tests of cognitive ability in the elderly U.S. population, 1993-2000.

OBJECTIVE: This study investigates cohort differences in cognitive functioning among Americans aged 70 or older in 1993, 1995, 1998, and 2000. METHODS: The study draws on self-respondent data from four waves of the Asset and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old Study and the Health and Retirement Study surveys collected between 1993 and 2000. Cognitive performance scores for each of four components (immediate recall, delayed recall, serial 7s, and mental status) and their sum are compared across cohorts, unadjusted and with adjustments for survey design features and demographic characteristics. RESULTS: Unadjusted scores suggest cohort improvements in several components of cognitive functioning between 1993 and 1998, and little change between 1998 and 2000. However, these improvements largely disappear after confounding features of the survey design (changes in age distribution of the sample across waves and prior exposure to the cognitive tests) and changes in the demographic composition of the sample (race, ethnicity, and gender) are adjusted for. DISCUSSION: There appears to have been little improvement of cognitive functioning across recent cohorts of older Americans. However, the study points out the complexities of using panel data to study cohort differences, particularly when the measures of interest are likely influenced by prior wave participation. Future studies based on other data sources are needed.

Aged↗

PubMed1988

Interviewing older adults: validity of self-reports of satisfaction.

Respondents in a personal interview study were asked to evaluate several domains of their lives using several different response scales that included both verbal and pictorial response alternatives. Structural equation models were specified to permit estimation of the validity of these survey measures. Across all of the items, the concept factors explain an average of about one half of the total variance, method factors explain about one tenth of the variance, and the remaining one third or so of the variance is unique to each item. Comparisons of the validity of reports by respondents of different ages indicate that method factors explain almost twice as much of the variance in the responses of older respondents as in those of younger respondents.

Adult↗