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Groundbreaking UAB Clinical Trial to Identify Exercise Prescription for Older Adults
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As the number of older adults in the U.S. steadily increases to an expected 70 million
by 2030, health experts predict that sarcopenia – age-related muscle atrophy – has
the potential to become an epidemic public health threat that could cause devastating
functional limitations in older adults. Because resistance training has proven the
most effective intervention against sarcopenia, UAB is conducting a groundbreaking,
five-year clinical trial called the STRIVE II Project funded by the National Institute
on Aging (grant 5R01 AGO17896). The focus of the study is to determine the most
effective strength training program for improving muscle mass, bone density, and
physical function in men and women aged 60 to 75.
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Exercise — a Dose-dependent
Prescription
“When healthcare providers give older patients instructions regarding exercise,
their recommendations are often based on what is effective for younger adults,”
explains Marcas Bamman, PhD, FACSM, STRIVE II Principal Investigator, Director,
the Muscle Research Program of the Birmingham/Atlanta VA Geriatric Research, Education,
and Clinical Center (GRECC) and the Clinical Exercise Facility, and UAB Center for
Aging Associate Director. He says he is hopeful that the results of STRIVE II will
help physicians view exercise recommendations as prescriptions – in a dose-dependent
manner, just as pharmaceuticals are. “Also, if you’re going to ask patients to engage
in an activity for one hour three times a week, you want to make certain it’s the
right activity in the correct quantity that will achieve optimal results.” Read more...
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Renewal of the Funding for Phase II of the UAB Study of Aging
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Dr. Richard Allman has received a grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIA)
in the amount of $2.86 million for the period 2/15/10—1/31/15 for the UAB Study
of Aging II. The formal title of the grant is “Mobility Among Older African Americans
and Whites.” Dr. Patricia Sawyer is the Co-PI. Other investigators include Drs.
Cynthia Brown, Michael Crowe, Julie Locher, Christine Ritchie, Jeffrey Roseman,
and David Roth. Eric Bodner is the data manager and Teresa Tennyson serves as a
project coordinator and interviewer.
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This renewal will fund interviews of community-dwelling adults now aged 75 and older
who were previously interviewed in 2002 or 2004. A minimum of 500 in-home interviews
will be followed by monthly telephone interviews to understand causes in the decline
of independence and mobility after age 75. This research will identify the most
important ways to prevent mobility declines in this age group.
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The Impact of Philanthropy
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The age of unheard-of potential — the promise of healthy aging — truly
is at hand. Advances in medicine and in our understanding of the aging process have
made it possible to manage most of the conditions that caused premature death or
disability for our grandparents. The UAB Comprehensive Center for Healthy Aging is committed to improving
the health and well-being of all older adults and their families through research,
education, community programs, and specialty care. With support from patients, friends,
and community supporters the UAB Comprehensive Center for Healthy Aging has experienced tremendous growth.
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The opening of the McDonald Clinic in 2004 was made possible with a gift from a
Birmingham family who wanted to honor their parents by creating a place where older
adults could receive convenient, comfortable, and expert care. Staffed by physicians
and nurses from the UAB Comprehensive Center for Healthy Aging, the McDonald Clinic has made it possible
to double the numbers of patients served. In addition, we have developed programs
to improve care for patients in the hospital, such as the newly launched Acute Care
for Elders (ACE) Unit. Read more...
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Volume 16, No. 1
April 2010
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Inside This Issue:
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Comprehensive Center for Healthy Aging
The UAB Comprehensive Center for Healthy Aging
is an interdisciplinary community that promotes the health and well-being of older
adults and their families through research, education, community programs and specialized
care.
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Geriatric Education Center
The Geriatric Education Center (GEC) provides training
opportunities and outreach activities aimed at improving quality of life for older
adults. The GEC serves as the educational arm of the UAB Comprehensive Center for Healthy Aging, and sponsors/co-sponsors
interdisciplinary and discipline-specific educational programs for faculty, practitioners,
and students from multiple health care professional disciplines and helps support
educational programs for older adults such as New Horizons and community-based programs.
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Conferences & Seminars
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The Scientific Seminar Series provides the opportunity
to learn about a broad range of aging research topics, representing the fields of
biology of aging, neuroscience, clinical medicine and palliative care, health policy,
translational research, and behavioral and social sciences. Seminars are presented
by faculty both from UAB and other universities.
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Newsworthy Events
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The UAB Geriatric Education Center held its first Geriatric
Education Conference “Addressing the Complex Issues of Aging,” Feb. 18th and 19th
at the Doubletree Hotel. This two-day event hosted 177 health care professionals
from around the state representing the following disciplines: dentistry, medicine,
nursing, nursing home administration, nutrition, physical therapy, occupational
therapy, respiratory therapy and social work. The event offered a number of workshops
focusing on the importance of interdisciplinary care and how it affected the care
of the older adult. Such topics as cultural competency, health literacy, dementia,
oral health, emergency preparedness, Medicare and cancer survivorship were offered.
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Gerontology Education Program
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The UAB Comprehensive Center for Healthy Aging (CCHA) will sponsor two scholarships of $2000 for aging-related
research during the 2010-2011 academic year. The award announcement will be made
in May. It is anticipated that one graduate and one undergraduate award will be
made. The proposed research project should examine some aspect of the aging process
or a major biological, clinical, behavioral, social science, or health policy problem,
which jeopardizes the health and well-being of a significant segment of the elderly
population. For further information please contact Ms. Janet McCoy at jmccoy@aging.uab.edu
or 975-9622.
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Upcoming Events
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The Comprehensive Center for Healthy Aging Annual Meeting will be held on October 14
and 15, 2010 at the Hill University Center on the UAB campus. The Annual Meeting
provides an opportunity for faculty and guests to hear a prominent scientist present
a keynote address, to listen to oral presentations of junior faculty pursuing research
in aging, and to have informal interactions as they view poster research presentations.
The keynote speaker will be Dr. Albert Siu, MD, Professor and Chairman of the Brookdale
Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine.
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This year’s Annual Meeting will be combined with the External Advisory Committee
(EAC) Meeting and will include nationally prominent gerontologists and geriatricians.
EAC members will be asked to provide feedback on current Comprehensive Center for Healthy Aging programs
and plans for the future. In addition to Dr. Siu, the members will include: Christopher
Callahan, MD, Professor in Aging Research and Director of the Indiana University
Comprehensive Center for Healthy Aging Research, William Hazzard, MD, Professor of Medicine at the University
of Washington in Seattle and Director of Geriatrics and Extended Care for the VA
Puget Sound Health Care System, Stephen Kritchevsky, PhD, Professor and Director
of the J. Paul Sticht Center on Aging, Charlotte Peterson, PhD, Associate Dean for
Research at the University of Kentucky, and Thomas Prohaska, Professor of Community
Health Sciences and Co-Director, Center for Research on Health and Aging at the
University of Illinois at Chicago.
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Deep South Resource Center for Minority Aging Research (RCMAR) Pilot Awards
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The Deep South RCMAR is currently in the process of selecting awardees for the 2011
pilot grant program. Letters of Intent were submitted in January and the full applications
are due April 10. Funded projects will address focus areas of the Deep South RCMAR:
rural elders; intervention research addressing exercise, diet, or preventive health
strategies, studies addressing socio-economic, discrimination, trust, and bioethical
issues impacting physical and mental health. Projects will lead to reducing health
disparities among underserved older adults.
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The Deep South Resource Center for Minority Aging Research (RCMAR) which includes
a partnership with the University of Alabama (UA), Morehouse School of Medicine
and Tuskegee University will hold its Biannual Advisory Committee meeting on April
29-30, 2010 on the UA campus and October 7-8, 2010 at the University of Alabama
at Birmingham (UAB). The national meeting will be held at the University of Pennsylvania
in Philadelphia, May 6-7, 2010. The national meetings rotate between the various
RCMAR sites on an annual basis. Participating institutions include UAB (and their
partnering institutions); University of California, Los Angeles; University of California,
San Francisco; University of Colorado Health Sciences Center; University of Michigan,
Wayne State; University of Pennsylvania; and the National Coordinating Center at
UCLA.
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AgeWell.com
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AgeWell.com is a consumer-friendly
online resource of information and advice dealing with issues facing today’s older
adults. The content is provided by expert gerontologists and geriatricians affiliated
with the Comprehensive Center for Healthy Aging, and relayed in a way that is easy for the lay population
to understand and digest. AgeWell.com is a useful resource for aging adults, their
caregivers and family members, as well as clinicians and researchers. Some of the
recent articles:
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CCHA Donor List (January 2009 - December 2009)
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We thank the following people for their generous support of the Comprehensive Center for Healthy Aging
and its programs: Ms. Esther Y. Acre, Mr. and Mrs. John Akers, Karen Allen, Dr.
David Allison, Dr. and Mrs. Richard M. Allman, Ms. Edna C. Alosi, Mr. and Mrs. Robert
G. Batson, Ms. Donna Bearden, Dr. and Mrs. Neal R. Berte, Leigh Ann Blackwell, Herman
and Emmie Bolden, Ms. Barbara G. Bonfield, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas H. Brinkley, Dr.
and Mrs. Sam Brown Jr., Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Brown, Mr. and Mrs. Cecil Busby, Ms.
Sibyl C. Bynum, Lynn and Mark McGarvey Campisi, Ms. Malessia P. Chambers, Ms. Ann
Chambliss, Mr. Paul R. Cissell, Ms. Kathleen H. Cole, Mr. and Mrs. P. Michael Cole,
Ms. Liranda Coleman, Mr. and Mrs. Charles A. Collat Sr., Dr. and Mrs. H. Brooks
Cotton, Ms. Janis M. Davis, Ms. Ann H. deLathouder, Mr. and Mrs. David Elliott,
Mr. and Mrs. Greg Ellis, Ms. Sally Heath Ellis, Olive Moore Emerson, Mr. and Mrs.
Marvin R. Engel, Bill Farmer, Kyle Farmer, Mickey Farmer, Ms. Fay and Ms. Sheila
Cook Farmer, Fred Ferree, Ms. Linda W. Frawley
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Yvonne Gamble, Dennis Gamble Family, Alan Gioia, Gloria M. Gioia, Rose Marie Gioia,
Dr. Patricia Goode, Ms. Denise Goska, Ms. Jeanie and Ms. Beth Gundersen, Ms. Ann
Harbour, Dr. Susan M. Harding, Judy A. Harper, Ms. Regina Hartz, Gregory H. and
Sarah B. Hawley, Mr. Robert J. Heacock, Mrs. Elizabeth A. Heflin, Mrs. Howell T.
Heflin, Mr. Stanley Hellman, Mrs. Emil Hess, Ronne and Donald Hess, Ms. May L. Hines,
Mr. David W. Hodnett, Ms. Elizabeth Hope, Ms. Mackie Horowitz, John H. Howell, Mr.
and Mrs. Herbert Husid, Pat Ingle, Dr. Erum Jadoon-Khamash, Mrs. David E. Johnson,
Ms. Betty B. Joiner, Dr. Linda G. Jones Jones, Mr. and Mrs. Edward J. Kelb Sr.,
Dr. Jean J. Kelley, Mr. and Mrs. David Kendrick, Mr. and Mrs. William B. Kidd, Mr.
and Mrs. G.C. Kincaid Jr., Gennye and Matthew Krasner, Mr. and Mrs. Harry M. Lange,
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Levy, Dr. and Mrs. John L. Lewis Jr., Mr. and Mrs. Warren B.
Lightfoot, Steven Lind, Mr. and Mrs. G. Alex Lockett Jr., Tom and Jarman Lowden,
Mrs. Alfred S. Jr. (Suzanne W.) Lucas, Mr. and Mrs. James C. Malone Jr., Mrs. Ann
H. Massey, Mr. and Mrs. William E. Matthews, Dr. and Mrs. Charles A. McCallum, Ms.
Mary Frances McCullough, Frances Holley Medford, Dr. Karen M. Meneses, Dr. and Mrs.
James Morris Jr., Mrs. Jean B. Morris, Charles H. Moses
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Dr. Moon Nahm, Stanley Nelson, Mr. and Mrs. J. Terry Noland, Ms. Wynn Oldham, Donnie
G. Olis, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Pearce, Mr. Leath S. Pearce, Mr. and Mrs. Randy Perry,
Ms. Janet V. Perry, Ms. Vernell P. Pike, Mr. Charles J. Prettyman, Ms. Angela F.
Pruitt, Mr. and Mrs. Kelvin Ramsey, Ms. Lynn W. Rathmell, Mr. and Mrs. William T.
Ratliff III, Ms. Judith Rattner, Lynn and Arie Raviv, Ms. Elizabeth P. Roberts,
Mr. and Mrs. Charles G. Robinson, Mr. and Mrs. William R. Robinson III, Ms. Jo Ann
Roney, Dr. and Mrs. Stephen Rostand, Dr. and Mrs. Michael Saag, Jerry R. Salmon,
Dr. Patricia L. Sawyer, Barbara W. Shepherd, Dr. and Mrs. Robert Sherrill, Pride
Sherrill, Dr. Alan Siegal, Dr. Richard V. Sims, James E. and Sandra B. Smith, Mr.
and Mrs. Ralph H. Smith, Ms. Gloria T. Smith, Mr. Hatton C.V. Smith, Dr. Gloria
Solomon, Nancy Spaty, Joyce T. Spielberger, Dr. and Mrs. Joseph A. Stewart, Dr.
and Mrs. K. Bryant Strain, The Reverend Charles A. Taylor Jr., Don and Barbara Townsend,
Rodney Tucker, Dr. and Mrs. Albert J. Tully Jr., Ms. Kitty Urquhart, Mr. William
E. Van Ells, William M. Voigt, Dr. Cameron M. Vowell, Ms. Nancy C. Wagnon, Mr. and
Mrs. Eric P. Walker, Mr. W.L. Weatherly, Mrs. Leonard J. Weil, Ms. Phyllis G. Weinstein,
Ms. Betty B. White, Dr. Beverly R. Williams, Ms. Jane Fulton Williams, Mr. C. F.
Wittichen, Dr. Lesa L. Woodby, Mr. and Mrs. Don Young
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Insight on Aging is a publication of the UAB Comprehensive Center for Healthy Aging. You can
find previous editions of the newsletter and manage your subscription at www.aging.uab.edu/newsletter.
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Our mailing address is:
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Phone: 205.934.4399
Copyright © 2010 UAB Comprehensive Center for Healthy Aging All rights reserved.
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