Enabling Tech: Outcome measures harmonization (Milestone 11.B)

In Progress

Timeline Start - End

2018 - 2024

Research Implementation Area

Enabling Technologies and Disease Monitoring

Continue to develop standard outcome measures to enable data comparisons across studies, including but not limited to cognitive functioning and physical function and ensure that these measures are validated across a variety of educational, linguistic, and cultural groups.

Success Criteria

Develop criteria and methods for screening, testing, and validating new technologies for disease monitoring.
Launch at least one large longitudinal study evaluating the validity of standard outcome measures across three or more diverse groups. The study should be sufficiently powered to enable the validation of each of the outcome measures within each of the diverse groups.

Summary of Key Accomplishments

NIA supported the development of a state-of-the-art protocol for assessing dementia in large nationally representative samples – called the Harmonized Cognitive Assessment Protocol (HCAP) – which is now being implemented in the NIA-funded Health and Retirement Study and multiple international sister studies to facilitate cross-country comparisons. The HCAP enables researchers to measure and understand dementia risk in ongoing longitudinal studies of aging around the world by using methods and content that are as similar as possible. NIA-funded Mobile Monitoring of Cognitive Change infrastructure projects are developing and testing tools that measure cognitive abilities using mobile devices that can be adopted in dementia clinical research studies.

The key accomplishments summary is current as of July 2022. 

Accomplishments/Implementation Activities

Funding Initiatives

Research Programs and Resources

Research Highlights

Blog: The Healthy Cognitive Aging Project: A major data resource for cognitive epidemiology