Julie Zissimopoulos, PhD, delivers a keynote presentation at the University of Pennsylvania
Delivering a keynote presentation at the 2023 Penn Population Aging Research Center (PARC) Aging Retreat was Julie Zissimopoulos, PhD, Co-Director of the Aging and Cognition Research Program at the University of Southern California. (Photos: Hoag Levins) Click images for larger.

The second annual University of Pennsylvania Population Aging Research Center (PARC) Aging Retreat focused on the dramatic demographic changes that represent one of the American health care system’s most daunting challenges as its population continues to skew ever older.

Co-Directed by LDI Senior Fellows Norma Coe and Hans-Peter Kohler, PARC was established in 1994 with a grant from the National Institute on Aging. The organization brings together multidisciplinary health services researchers from seven of Penn’s Schools to study the demography and economics of aging, with a particular focus on aging in marginalized minority and ethnic populations.

Coe, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the Perelman School of medicine with research interests in health economics and public finance. Kohler, PhD, is a Professor of Demography in the Department of Sociology with research interests in fertility and health in developing and developed countries.

The day-long Aging Retreat on May 1 at Penn’s Perry World House featured 14 speakers who presented on the latest research looking ahead at what the sweeping demographic changes mean for the economy of health care, health equity, and the wellbeing of both the ballooning elderly population and its caregivers.

Leadership of the University of Pennsylvania's Population Aging Research Center (PARC)
Welcoming attendees were Olivia Mitchell, PhD, LDI Senior Fellow and Wharton School Professor; Hans-Peter Kohler, PhD, LDI Senior Fellow and PARC Co-Director; Norma Coe, PhD, LDI Senior Fellow and PARC Co-Director; Iliana Kohler, PhD, LDI Senior Fellow and PSC Associate Director; Samuel Preston, PhD, Professor, Penn School of Arts & Sciences; and Amanda Kreider, PhD, LDI Associate Fellow and Perelman School of Medicine Postdoctoral Fellow.
Penn School of Arts & Sciences Professor Samuel Preston at the podium.
At the podium in Penn’s Perry World House, School of Arts & Sciences Professor Samuel Preston delivers his presentation, “Socio-behavioral Factors Contributing to Recent Mortality Trends in the United States.”

In the opening keynote presentation, Julie Zissimopoulos, PhD, Professor and Co-Director of the Aging and Cognition Research Program at the Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics at the University of Southern California discussed the Center’s dynamic microsimulation models that project the effects of changes in health, policy and technological advances on the aging experience. She pointed out that the “longevity revolution” of the 20th century was in part achieved by medical research’s primary focus on the diagnosis and treatment of individual diseases.

“Cluster Morbidity”

But in the current century, she noted, “old age” occurs over a much longer period and the disease burden it facilitates is very different from a century ago. Longevity and population aging have led to high numbers of persons with diseases most common at old age such as Alzheimer’s disease. In addition, as people live longer, clusters of disease conditions become commonplace. She estimated that 37% of Americans older than 65 have four or more chronic conditions and that this “cluster” morbidity phenomenon leads to frailty and disabilities and many more years of complex, extensive, and expensive health care.

Zissimopoulos and colleagues utilized dynamic microsimulation to understand the value of a scientific advance that delays aging and the value of an innovations that delays the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. They compared population health and health care costs that would result from these scientific advances to those that would result if medical technology remained as it is today, that is under a ‘status quo’ scenario.

Impact of Delayed Aging

The delayed aging strategy resulted in 87.2 million people–or a 16% increase in non-disabled people–by 2060 compared to the ‘status quo’. However, the population health improvements come at a cost; from 2010 to 2060, costs of Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and Supplemental Security Income programs would increase by $3 trillion relative to the status quo.

Innovations that delayed the onset of Alzheimer’s disease by five years, on the other hand, led to a 41% reduction of older Americans living with the disease in 2050 and a decrease in medical, long-term care and informal caregiving costs of over $600 billion compared to the status quo.

She concluded by noting that policy and health care systems will also need to progress and innovate for society to realize gains from scientific advances.

Wharton Professor Olivia Mitchell at the podium.
LDI Senior Fellow and Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the Wharton School, Olivia Mitchell, PhD, spoke on “Financial Regret at Older Ages and Longevity Awareness.”
University of Pennsylvania Professor Amanda Kreider, PhD, at the podium.
LDI Associate Fellow and LDI Postdoctoral Program of the Perelman School of Medicine Amanda Kreider, PhD, addressed the issues of long-term care policy and caregivers’ wages.
Julie Zissimopoulos, PhD, Andrew Stokes, PhD, and Catherine Auriemma, MD, at a University of Pennsylvania seminar.
Applauding a speaker are Julie Zissimopoulos, PhD, of the University of Southern California; Andrew Stokes, PhD, of Boston University’s Center for Innovation in Social Science; and LDI Senior Fellow Catherine Auriemma, MD, of the Palliative and Advanced Illness Research (PAIR) Center at the Perelman School of Medicine.
Penn School of Nursing Adriana Perez, PhD CRNP,  at the podium.
LDI Senior Fellow and Associate Professor at the Penn School of Nursing Adriana Perez, PhD CRNP, detailed the ongoing results of her Philadelphia program Together for Health: A Community-Based Physical Activity Intervention for Older Latinos with Mild Cognitive Impairment.
Hans-Peter Kohler, PhD, Andrew Stokes, PhD, José Monteiro da Silva, M.Sc; Nazar Khalid, M.Phil; and Michael Lachanski, MPA, at University of Pennsylvania seminar.
Holding court on some of the issues raised in the Retreat’s presentations was PARC Co-Director Hans-Peter Kohler with (l to r) Andrew Stokes, PhD, of Boston University; José Henrique Costa Monteiro da Silva, MSc; Nazar Khalid, MPhil; and Michael Lachanski, MPA, all three are Penn PhD students in Sociology and Demography.
Chinwe (Chi Chi) Nwadiogbu, MLA, and Iliana Kohler, PhD, at a University of Pennsylvania seminar on aging.
Reviewing the schedule were Chinwe (ChiChi) Nwadiogbu, MLA, and Iliana Kohler, PhD. Nwadiogbu is the Deputy Director of the Penn LDI and PARC Get Experience in Aging Research Undergraduate Program (GEAR UP). Kohler is the PARC Associate Director.
Norma Coe and Jovan Mann of the University of Pennsylvania at a seminar poster display.
PARC Co-Director Norma Coe, PhD, and Jovan Mann, a Penn Economics and Health Care Management student and current GEAR UP scholar, discussing his research poster, “International Comparisons in Cognition Using the Delayed Word Recall Test.”
Ijeoma Unachukwu, MD Candidate at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School at a seminar on aging.
Ijeoma Unachukwu, MD Candidate at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School with her research poster, “Black Older Adults Presenting to the Emergency Department (ED) for Abdominal Pain Receive Significantly Lower Levels of Imaging Than White Patients.”
Penn Nursing School PhD student Augustine Boateng, MPH, at a seminar on aging.
LDI Associate Fellow, current GEAR UP scholar, and Penn Nursing School PhD student Augustine Boateng, MPH, with his research poster, “Perception and Application of Spirituality Among Black Male Survivors of Firearm Violence.”
Colin Magdamo, Data Scientist, and Marie-Laure Charpignon, PhD student at a University of Pennsylvania seminar on aging.
Colin Magdamo, Data Scientist, and Marie-Laure Charpignon, PhD student with their research poster, “Causal Inference in Electronic Health Records (EHR): Applications to Antihypertensive Drug Repurposing for the Prevention of Dementia.”

Author

Hoag Levins

Editor, Digital Publications


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