Monthly on the 3rd Thursday
8am US Pacific Time, 11am US Eastern Time, 5pm Central European Time

The Gateway to Global Aging, in partnership with the Center to Accelerate Population Research in Alzheimer’s (capra.med.umich.edu), is organizing a monthly virtual seminar series on long-term care, services, and policy. The seminar series is led by Julien Bergeot and Giacomo Pasini from Ca' Foscari University of Venice. The goal of the seminar series is to promote international interactions among scholars in this growing field of research. Presentations will typically be on in-progress work and discussions are strongly encouraged.

Participants must register to receive upcoming seminar announcements and virtual meeting room links. To register please submit a form with your email here. Emails will be kept limited to seminar announcements and you can unsubscribe from this list at any time.

Here are our upcoming presentations:

• May 16, 2024
  Wenhan Zhang, Duke University
  "Trends in Quality of Life Indicators for Older Adults with Cognitive Impairment Across Living and Care Arrangements from 2008 to 2020: A Population-Based Descriptive Study"
  Abstract: Existing research on the prevalence of quality of life indicators among cognitively impaired older Americans is limited. This study aims to describe trends in six quality of life indicators among older adults with cognitive impairment across different living and care arrangements in the United States. This is a descriptive study using repeated cross-sectional data from the nationally representative Health and Retirement Study. Our study sample includes individuals aged 65 and older with verified cognitive impairment. Respondents were categorized into five groups based on their living and care arrangements: nursing homes, residential care facilities, community residents receiving home care with ≥1 ADL/IADL limitations, community residents with ≥1 ADL/IADL limitations but not receiving home care, and community residents without any ADL/IADL limitations. We estimated trends in six quality of life indicators — self-rated health, depression, chronic pain, loneliness, life satisfaction, and purpose in life — using respondent-level weights from each wave. Logit models were applied to estimate prevalence rates of binary variables for the overall sample and within each living arrangement subgroup. All models were adjusted for age, sex, race, education, net wealth quintiles, and the number of Activities of Daily Living (ADL) and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) limitations. Our findings revealed an upward trend in the prevalence of chronic pain between 2008 and 2020, with the largest increase observed among community residents with ≥1 ADL/IADL limitations who did not receive home care (from 51% in 2008 to 65% in 2020). Nursing home residents consistently reported the highest prevalence of fair or poor self-rated health over time. Compared to other subgroups, community residents with ≥1 ADL/IADL limitations but not receiving home care had higher rates of active depression and loneliness. The results provide a more comprehensive picture of the varying physical, social, and psychological well-being of older adults with cognitive impairment based on their living and care arrangements. Community-dwelling individuals with unmet home care needs consistently reported lower well-being levels, while community residents without ADL/IADL limitations reported the highest well-being levels. These findings underscore the need for targeted interventions to improve the quality of life for older adults with cognitive impairment, particularly in reducing chronic pain. Policies aimed at increasing support for home-care services could benefit community residents with ADL/IADL limitations.

Thank you to those who have already presented:

• April 18, 2024
  Meghan Skira, University of Georgia
  "Genetic Risk for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias: Cognition, Economic Behavior, and Clinically Actionable Information"
• March 21, 2024
  Sung Ah Bahk, American University (joint work with Selin Secil Akin, Lidia Brun, Ignacio Gonzalez, and Aina Puig)
  "Universal Long-term Care Reform and the Labor Supply of Caregivers: Evidence from Korea"
• January 19, 2023
  Julien Bergeot of the Department of Economics, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice (joint work with Louis Arnault)
  "Informal Care & Mental Health: A Story of Unobserved Heterogeneity"
• February 16, 2023
  Marlies Bär of the Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam (joint work with Pieter Bakx, Nigel Rice, Rita Santos, Luigi Siciliani, and Bram Wouterse)
  "Spillovers of Delayed Nursing Home Admissions to the Hospital Sector"
• March 16, 2023
  Edward Norton, University of Michigan
  "Did Avoiding Post-Acute SNF Care During COVID Save Lives?"
• April 20, 2023
  Ingo Kolodziej of RWI Essen (joint work with Norma B. Coe of the University of Pennsylvania and Courtney H. Van Houtven of Duke University)
  "Intensive Informal Care and Impairments in Work Productivity and Activity"
• May 18, 2023
  Joan Costa-i-Font, London School of Economics
  "Are Long term care subsidies and supports productive? Effects on health and wellbeing"
• September 21, 2023
  Elsa Perdrix, Paris Dauphine University
  "Horizontal Inequity in Long-term Care Use in France"
• October 19, 2023
  Bertrand Achou, University of Groningen
  "At Home versus in a Nursing Home: Long-term Care Settings and Marginal Utility"
• November 16, 2023
  R. Tamara Konetzka, University of Chicago
  "The Role of Medicaid Home- and Community-Based Services in Use of Medicare Post-Acute Care"
• Dec 14, 2023
  Anne Penneau, Institute for Research and Information in Health Economics
  "The Impact of Nursing Homes on Quality of Drug Prescription in France"
• February 15, 2024
  Helena M. Hernandez-Pizarro, Pompeu Fabra University
  "Unravelling Hidden Inequities in a Universal Public Long-Term Care System"