Assessing Disease Histories and Chronic Disabling Conditions in the National Health and Aging Trends Study

Chronic diseases and conditions underlie much disability in older people and, as a result, are an important area for evaluation in NSAH. While disease histories can be reliable and valid for certain conditions, this is not true for others, and may not be effective for many important but less common disabling conditions and syndromes. NSAH intends to provide information on chronic disease prevalence (and incidence) from self-report but will also include diagnostic information from linked claims data and plans to draw on CMS's Chronic Condition Warehouse indicators for 24 major chronic conditions. Data on treatment related to chronic conditions also will be collected including temporal patterns of clinical events, extent and intensity of medical care (including hospitalization), symptom profiles, prescription drug use, and self-management of chronic conditions. An equally important focus for data collection is clinical syndromes that do not lead individuals to seek allopathic medical care, many linked to pain syndromes. These syndromes are explored for temporality, extent of self-management (and management success) and functional impact on the individual. Questions will be included that allow analysts to explore emerging concepts such as geriatric frailty, and events such as falls, as precursors to disability. Finally, an additional approach to disease assessment will be explored, one which allows respondents to describe their important conditions qualitatively, and how their conditions impact personal function.