Healthy Aging in Neighborhoods of Diversity Across the Life Span (HANDLS)

Summary

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Description

The Healthy Aging in Neighborhoods of Diversity across the Life Span (HANDLS) study is an interdisciplinary, community-based, prospective longitudinal epidemiologic study examining the influences of race and socioeconomic status (SES) on the development of age-related health disparities among socioe...

The Healthy Aging in Neighborhoods of Diversity across the Life Span (HANDLS) study is an interdisciplinary, community-based, prospective longitudinal epidemiologic study examining the influences of race and socioeconomic status (SES) on the development of age-related health disparities among socioeconomically diverse African Americans and whites in Baltimore. This study investigates whether health disparities develop or persist due to differences in SES, differences in race, or their interaction. Planned as a 20-year longitudinal study, HANDLS is unique because it assesses physical parameters as well as evaluating genetic, biologic, demographic, and psychosocial parameters of African American and white participants over a wide range of socioeconomic statuses. HANDLS also employs novel research tools, mobile medical research vehicles, in hopes of improving participation rates and retention among non- traditional research participants. The domains of the HANDLS study include: nutrition, cognition, biologic biomarkers, body composition and bone quality, physical function and performance, psychology, genomics, neighborhood environment and cardiovascular disease. Utilizing data from these study domains will facilitate an understanding of selected underlying factors of persistent black-white health disparities in overall longevity, cardiovascular disease, and cognitive decline. HANDLS recruited a fixed cohort as an area probability sample of Baltimore City from August 2004 through November 2009 as Wave 1 (Figure 1). HANDLS Wave 2 entitled The Association of Personality and Socioeconomic status with Health Status An Interim Follow-up Study began in June 2006 under a separate protocol. It was designed as a follow-up telephone interview approximately 18 months after the initial examination (Wave 1) was complete. Wave 2 provided interim contact with study participants, and important interim information regarding their health. Now completed, waves 3 and 4 were the first and second follow-up examinations and participants second and third visit to our mobile Medical Research Vehicles (MRVs). The current protocol outlines Wave 5, the third follow-up examination and participants fourth visit to our mobile Medical Research Vehicles (MRVs). Planned as a follow-up after 3-4 years, Wave 5 consists of health examinations, questionnaires, sensory assessments (visual and olfactory), health literacy assessment, renal function assessments, environmental assessments, and for a sub-set of participants; structural MRIs and a personality inventory.

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