Centers on the Demography and Economics of Aging

There are twelve general Centers on the Demography and Economics (D&E) Aging (RFA-AG-20-001) and three Centers on the D&E of Alzheimer’s Disease/Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (AD/ADRD) (RFA-AG-20-002). NIA/BSR also supports the Centers program through one Coordinating Center (CC) (RFA-AG-20-003) that will organize efforts across each Center.

D&E Centers support the infrastructure and pilot data necessary for research and program development by investigators within an institution, and/or across domestic and international institutions, in the areas of demography and economics of aging. Some objectives include the development of networks (national and international), recruitment of new researchers, as well as the development of remote data enclaves and data sharing methods for the analysis of large-scale databases with linked administrative data, electronic health record, biological, and/or genetic information. The AD/ADRD D&E Centers expand upon these objectives by addressing areas of demography, economics, and health services research relevant to AD/ADRD. Here, some objectives include recruiting researchers with relevant expertise in AD/ADRD in order to develop and share relevant databases and providing overall useful information in this area of research.

The new CC is a hub that serves the needs of both traditional D&E Centers and the AD/ADRD Centers. The CC works with all Centers to meet their overall goals of:(1) beginning new lines of research relevant to the demography and economics of aging, including research relevant to AD/ADRD, and supporting researchers engaged in these fields through a variety of research and infrastructure activities built around center-specific research themes. The CC serves as the overall D&E Centers point of contact and will work collaboratively with all participating Center sites to: maintain an active multicenter website; disseminate Center research activities and resources to the larger research community, policymakers, and other relevant stakeholders; maintain a centralized database to track and synthesize outcomes of Center and CC activities for reporting purposes to NIA Program Staff and future evaluation by the NIA, and; and arrange annual in-person meetings to foster communication and collaborative activities within and across all D&E Centers programs and other NIA research Centers.

The reach of these Centers is global, with almost all involved in international projects, helping to develop the fields of demography and economics of aging in many countries via harmonization of international data collection efforts. There are common illustrative topic areas that share research themes across all the sixteen currently-funded Centers. Topics include:

• Determinants of national and international population trends and trajectories at older ages in physical and cognitive functioning (including AD/ADRD), disability, morbidity, mortality, health, and well-being
• The role of social, behavioral, environmental, and structural risk and protective factors leading to disparities in health outcomes across the life course
• Health disparities in aging and quality and access to dementia care
• Integration of genetic approaches and data on biological risk into social science population research on aging
• Integration, development, and validation of biological measurements into population-based studies
• Health trends and inequalities
• Impact of health care services, the health care system, and long-term supports and services on health and well-being of older persons with chronic disease, disability and AD/ADRD, and on their care providers
• Global aging and health
• Family and intergenerational supports for policy, place, and populations (including AD/ADRD)
• Economic burden of (AD/ADRD)
• Demography of dementia care and caregiving
• Effects of population-level health delivery and care interventions on outcomes of persons with dementia

Below are the currently-funded D&E Centers (up-to-date information on this page):