Ewbank

Analysis of the Linearity of Trends in the Dementia Severity Rating Scale

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a chronic disease of moderate to long duration. Numerous studies have used variations in the rate of progression of AD to compare therapies and the effects of various bio-medical markers and for clinical use. Studying progression is more difficult if the measure of severity does not change linearly, since the random effects models are difficult to interpret if there are nonlinear terms. Preliminary examinations suggest that the Dementia Severity Rating Scale (DSRS) has great potential in this regard. The DSRS is a measure of behavioral impairment designed for measuring severity in AD. It appears that the DSRS increases linearly with duration of disease until the most severe stages. In a small proportion of patients, the DSRS remains constant at a low value for a short period of time before beginning a linear trend. The aims of the proposed research are to demonstrate the pattern of change in the DSRS and the variation in progression rates among cases and to calibrate the DSRS by examining correlates of progression rates and average DSRS scores at the time of major events such as placement in a care facility or death.

Pagán

Self-medication among Adults in Mexico

The objective is to analyze the factors that are associated with the use of self-medication/self-prescription in Mexico using survey data on adults 50 years of age and older from the 2001 Mexican Health and Aging Study (MHAS). The central hypothesis of the proposed research is that socioeconomic status, employment, health insurance and personal beliefs are related to the use of self-medication in Mexico. Modeling how these factors are related to self-medication will allow policymakers to evaluate the impact of, for example, healthcare reform via increases in health insurance coverage or changes in income, on self-medication.

Shore

Human Capital Risk and Family Co-Insurance

The goal of this pilot project is to understand the impact of intra-household coinsurance on consumption commitments and precautionary saving. A precautionary savings motive implies that people will spend more and save less when they face lower risks. In general, this effect is hard to detect since there is little variation in risk that is both large and exogenous. Consequently, research attempting to identify precautionary saving has generally yielded conflicting or insignificant effects. For example Dynan (1993) finds an extremely small effect of precautionary savings while Carroll and Samwick (1998) find a substantial one. This pilot will use a novel identification technique to attempt to look for precautionary saving.

van de Walle

Grandparents and the Survival of their Grandchildren in the Gambia

The principal aim of the proposed research is to understand the relationship between both the survival and the co-residency of grandparents and their grandchildren’s mortality based on the 1993 Gambia census. It will build on a preliminary descriptive analysis of grandparents and grandchildren to be published as part of a volume on African households edited by Etienne van de Walle, who is also the PI for the project.