Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84 Page 85 Page 86 Page 87 Page 88 Page 89 Page 90 Page 91 Page 92 Page 93 Page 94 Page 95 Page 96 Page 97 Page 98 Page 99 Page 100 Page 101 Page 102 Page 103 Page 104 Page 105 Page 106 Page 107 Page 10886 The Future Since its inception in 1992, the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) has provided an invaluable, long-term look at the complex interplay of health, work, and economic status of Americans age 51 and older. Over the years, the Study has been recognized for its high level of innovation and unique approach- es within the social science research arena and has become the premier source of retirement data. In terms of budget, sample size, number of interview hours, and number of researchers involved, the HRS ranks among the largest and most ambitious social and behavioral studies ever undertaken. Rather than being a narrowly controlled investigation of the hypotheses of a small group of scientists, it provides a laboratory for many researchers to explore their theories. Today, the HRS continues to evolve as data collection techniques expand and the resulting data are refined. In 2006, the HRS was funded for 6 more years, allowing the Study team to adopt several new directions. Some of the recent and future HRS initiatives are described below. Biomarker Data Collection Expands In response to growing research interest in the relationship between physical health and other aspects of life, in 2006 the HRS began to gather additional direct measures of HRS participants’ physical well-being. In the course of in-person interviews with participants, the researchers have begun to gather objective data about individuals’ physical performance (such as grip strength, lung capacity, and walking ability) and blood pressure, and will collect fingerstick blood spot samples to assay for some common disease markers. They will also collect and store salivary DNA samples. These data will provide a foundation for novel studies of chronic disease, morbidity, dis- ability, and, ultimately, mortality within the HRS study population. Cognitive Measures Strengthened The HRS was one of the first national health surveys to measure cognitive health at the population level. The Aging, Demographics, and Memory Study (ADAMS), a recently added supplement to the HRS, is the first of its kind to conduct in-home assessments of dementia on a national scale with a nationally representative sample of older adults. Incorporating measures of memory and thinking skills in the HRS has permitted researchers to identify individuals with cognitive impairment and to study the impact of the impair- ment on their families. Beyond ADAMS, the HRS team has begun a major effort to strengthen its cognitive measures, developing new adaptive testing methods to assess a broader range of cognitive functions than in the past. More Psychosocial Measures Added The early waves of the HRS, while strong in areas such as the measurement of participants’ economic status, were less robust in their measurement of psychosocial dimensions. Following a series of workshops and Data Monitor- ing Committee meetings, the HRS has begun to add a significant number of psychosocial measures to its face-to-face interviews with people over age 50. In 2004, adopting an innovation included in a sister study, the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), the HRS began using a “leave behind” self-administered questionnaire to gather expanded psychosocial data. Since then, the HRS has consulted widely with psychologists and sociologists on the design of an expanded psychosocial instrument that was administered in 2006. This work will continue on the versions for 2008 and beyond. International Studies Grow As described in the Introduction, the HRS has served as a model for other longitudinal, population-based studies of older adults’ health and retirement in other nations. Several of these studies—ELSA; the Survey of Health, Age- ing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE); and the Mexican Health and Aging Study (MHAS)—are well-established. Their success has generated interest in extending these efforts to Israel and countries in Eastern Europe. Other nations—Ireland, Australia, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, and China—are also actively planning HRS or SHARE equivalents, and the task of coordi- nating these studies has become significant. The availability of comparable cross-national data presents opportunities for new research, such as the investigation of the impact of country-level pension and health system varia- tion that were never before possible with single-country studies.