Quantitative Analytics and Data Management

RCB PROJECT SUMMARY The proposed program project, Deploying High Value Longitudinal Population-Based data in Dementia Research (DEVELOP AD RESEARCH), will leverage two national, longitudinal, population-based studies, the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS), both of which are linked to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) claims and assessment files, to expand our understanding of the longitudinal course of dementia and the complex interactions of medical, social, and health system factors. Research Core B (RCB) – Quantitative Analytics and Data Management will support the goals of the P01 and its five research projects through four specific aims: 1) To consolidate HRS, NHATS, and linked CMS database management activities to promote scientific rigor and efficiency throughout the P01; 2) To build the processes and infrastructure, including staff and investigators, to maximize efficient and synergistic application of our knowledge and resources; 3) To provide state-of-the-art quantitative analytic support for research projects; 4) To create and disseminate a library of publicly available web-based technical assistance material to advance geriatric palliative care and dementia research. Comprised of scientists from the University of California San Francisco and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the core creates a transdisciplinary research team of clinician scientists, health services researchers, economists, epidemiologists, and biostatisticians with expertise in the novel and complex programming, analytic tools, and statistical methods that are required to effectively use the HRS and NHATS datasets to examine the complex issues that arise across the disease course from dementia diagnosis to death and provide answers to relevant clinical and policy questions in dementia care. RCB is the means through which synergies and efficiencies in quantitative analytic expertise and database management will be achieved in order to successfully complete the proposed work in each research project. RCB leaders, Drs. Boscardin and Kelley, have the expertise and experience to accomplish the RCB’s aims through active collaboration with research project investigators, consultants and analytic staff - all of whom have extensive expertise in managing and analyzing Medicare linked HRS and NHATS data. RCB will consolidate database management activities by centralizing administrative and regulatory functions; creating and cataloging a unified set of variables to be used by all research projects, merging and cleaning datasets needed for the individual research projects including creating longitudinal hierarchical datasets for analyses, and performing all associated documentation.