News

Lichtman Awarded Health Protection Research Initiative Grant from CDC

Judith Lichtman, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology in the Division of Chronic Disease Epidemiology, has been awarded a three year grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to examine the burden of cardiovascular disease in the elderly.

Judith Lichtman, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology in the Division of Chronic Disease Epidemiology, has been awarded a 3 year, nearly $959,000 Health Protection Research Initiative Grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for a study, entitled “Cardiovascular Disease Trends in the Elderly,” which draws on the disciplines of clinical medicine, epidemiology, public health, biostatistics, and health economics to examine the burden of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in the elderly.

The study will include all fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries discharged with CVD from 1991-2003. Its aims are to (i) determine 12-year cardiovascular disease trends, especially by age, race, gender, socioeconomic status and geographic region, (ii) determine the short and long-term outcomes for patients hospitalized with CVD by age, race, gender, socioeconomic status and geographic region, and (iii) determine the change in cost and outcomes for Medicare beneficiaries resulting from innovations in prevention, diagnosis and treatment of CVD.

The study will fill gaps in knowledge about patterns and trends seen in CVD, especially among the elderly, who are far more likely to have CVD than are people under 65. Although CVD is the third leading cause of death in the US and a leading cause of disability, the US does not have a cohesive surveillance system to provide insight into national patterns of care, reveal national trends over time, and track short and long-term patient outcomes among elderly Americans. Understanding the burden of CVD in the elderly will be critical to healthcare planning and provision as the elderly segment of the US population increases.

Lichtman's grant is part of CDC's “Health Protection Research Initiative” grant program, launched last spring. The program is designed to fund research that produces recommendations that can be adopted by health departments, health care providers, employers and policy makers.

–Story by Christy Gordon