The Biostatistics Of Aging

A practical and clarifying approach to aging andaging-related diseases Providing a thorough and extensive theoretical framework, TheBiostatistics of Aging: From Gompertzian Mortality to an Index ofAging-Relatedness addresses the surprisinglysubtlenotion—with consequential biomedical and public healthrelevance—of what it means for acondition to be related toaging. In this pursuit, the book presents a new quantitativemethodto examine the relative contributions of genetic andenvironmental factors to mortality anddisease incidence in apopulation. With input from evolutionary biology, population genetics,demography, and epidemiology, this medically motivated bookdescribes an index of aging-relatedness and also features: Original results on the asymptotic behavior of the minimum oftime-to-event random variables, which extends those of theclassical statistical theory of extreme values A comprehensive and satisfactory explanation based onbiological principles of the Gompertz pattern of mortality in humanpopulations The development of an evolution-based model of causationrelevant to mortality and aging-related diseases of complexetiology An explanation of how and why the description of humanmortality by the Gompertz distribution can be improved upon fromfirst principles The amply illustrated analysis of real-world data, including aprogram for conducting the analysis written in the freely availableR statistical software Technical appendices including mathematical material as well asan extensive and multidisciplinary bibliography on aging andaging-related diseases The Biostatistics of Aging: From Gompertzian Mortality to anIndex of Aging-Relatedness is an excellent resource forpractitioners and researchers with an interest in aging andaging-related diseases from the fields of medicine, biology,gerontology, biostatistics, epidemiology, demography, and publichealth.

A practical and clarifying approach to aging and aging-related diseases Providing a thorough and extensive theoretical framework, The Biostatistics of Aging: From Gompertzian Mortality to an Index of Aging-Relatedness addresses the surprisingly subtlenotion—with consequential biomedical and public health relevance—of what it means for acondition to be related to aging. In this pursuit, the book presents a new quantitative methodto examine the relative contributions of genetic and environmental factors to mortality anddisease incidence in a population. With input from evolutionary biology, population genetics, demography, and epidemiology, this medically motivated book describes an index of aging-relatedness and also features: Original results on the asymptotic behavior of the minimum of time-to-event random variables, which extends those of the classical statistical theory of extreme values A comprehensive and satisfactory explanation based on biological principles of the Gompertz pattern of mortality in human populations The development of an evolution-based model of causation relevant to mortality and aging-related diseases of complex etiology An explanation of how and why the description of human mortality by the Gompertz distribution can be improved upon from first principles The amply illustrated analysis of real-world data, including a program for conducting the analysis written in the freely available R statistical software Technical appendices including mathematical material as well as an extensive and multidisciplinary bibliography on aging and aging-related diseases The Biostatistics of Aging: From Gompertzian Mortality to an Index of Aging-Relatedness is an excellent resource for practitioners and researchers with an interest in aging and aging-related diseases from the fields of medicine, biology, gerontology, biostatistics, epidemiology, demography, and public health.

A practical and clarifying approach to aging and aging-related diseases Providing a thorough and extensive theoretical framework, The Biostatistics of Aging: From Gompertzian Mortality to an Index of Aging-Relatedness addresses the surprisingly subtlenotion--with consequential biomedical and public health relevance--of what it means for acondition to be related to aging. In this pursuit, the book presents a new quantitative methodto examine the relative contributions of genetic and environmental factors to mortality anddisease incidence in a population. With input from evolutionary biology, population genetics, demography, and epidemiology, this medically motivated book describes an index of aging-relatedness and also features: Original results on the asymptotic behavior of the minimum of time-to-event random variables, which extends those of the classical statistical theory of extreme values A comprehensive and satisfactory explanation based on biological principles of the Gompertz pattern of mortality in human populations The development of an evolution-based model of causation relevant to mortality and aging-related diseases of complex etiology An explanation of how and why the description of human mortality by the Gompertz distribution can be improved upon from first principles The amply illustrated analysis of real-world data, including a program for conducting the analysis written in the freely available R statistical software Technical appendices including mathematical material as well as an extensive and multidisciplinary bibliography on aging and aging-related diseases The Biostatistics of Aging: From Gompertzian Mortality to an Index of Aging-Relatedness is an excellent resource for practitioners and researchers with an interest in aging and aging-related diseases from the fields of medicine, biology, gerontology, biostatistics, epidemiology, demography, and public health.

With this book, Siegel, an internationally known demographer and gerontologist, has made a unique contribution to the fledgling fields of health demography, and the demography and epidemiology of aging. The book represents a felicitous union of epidemiology, gerontology, and demography, and appears to be the first and only comprehensive text on this subject now available. Drawing on a wide range of sciences in addition to demography, gerontology, and epidemiology, including medical sociology, biostatistics, public policy, bioethics, and molecular biology, the author treats theoretical and applied issues, links methods and findings, covers the material internationally, nationally, and locally, and while focusing on the elderly, treats the entire life course. The methods, materials, and pespectives of demography and epidemiology are brought to bear on such topics as the prospects for future increases in human longevity, the relative contribution of life style, environment, genetics, and chance in human longevity, the measurement of the share of healthy years in total life expectancy, the role of population growth in the rising costs of health care, and the applications of health demography in serving the health needs of local communities. The separate chapters systematically develop the topics of the sources and quality of health data; mortality, life tables, and the measurement of health status; the interrelationships of health, on the one hand, and mortality, fertility, migration, and age structure, on the other; health conditions in the less developed countries; the concepts and theories of aging and projections of the aged population; and local health applications, public health policy, and bioethical issues in health demography. Given its comprehensiveness, clarity, interdisciplinary scope, and authencity, this book appeals to a wide range of users, from students and teachers of medical sociology, the demography of aging, and public health studies to practitioners in these areas, both as a text in health demography and the demography/epidemiology of aging, and as a reference work in these fields.

This book provides theoretical and applied material for estimating vital parts of demography and health issues including the healthy aging process along with calculating the healthy life years lost to disability. It further includes the appropriate methodology for the optimum health expenditure allocation. Through providing data analysis, statistical and stochastic methodology, probability approach and important applications, the book explores topics such as aging and mortality, birth-death processes, self-perceived age, life-time and survival as well as pension and labor-force. By providing a methodological approach to health problems in demography and society including and quantifying important parameters, this book is a valuable guide for researchers, theoreticians and practitioners from various disciplines.

This book provides accessible treatment to state-of-the-art approaches to analyzing longitudinal studies. Comprehensive coverage of the most popular analysis tools allows readers to pick and choose the techniques that best fit their research. The analyses are illustrated with examples from major longitudinal data sets including practical information about their content and design. Illustrations from popular software packages offer tips on how to interpret the results. Each chapter features suggested readings for additional study and a list of articles that further illustrate how to implement the analysis and report the results. Syntax examples for several software packages for each of the chapter examples are provided at www.psypress.com/longitudinal-data-analysis. Although many of the examples address health or social science questions related to aging, readers from other disciplines will find the analyses relevant to their work. In addition to demonstrating statistical analysis of longitudinal data, the book shows how to interpret and analyze the results within the context of the research design. The methods covered in this book are applicable to a range of applied problems including short- to long-term longitudinal studies using a range of sample sizes. The book provides non-technical, practical introductions to the concepts and issues relevant to longitudinal analysis. Topics include use of publicly available data sets, weighting and adjusting for complex sampling designs with longitudinal studies, missing data and attrition, measurement issues related to longitudinal research, the use of ANOVA and regression for average change over time, mediation analysis, growth curve models, basic and advanced structural equation models, and survival analysis. An ideal supplement for graduate level courses on data analysis and/or longitudinal modeling taught in psychology, gerontology, public health, human development, family studies, medicine, sociology, social work, and other behavioral, social, and health sciences, this multidisciplinary book will also appeal to researchers in these fields.

"Traditionally, studies and textbooks in Neurology or Psychiatry, as well as allied disciplines, deal with proximate causes of diseases and therapies, but remain mute or minimally interested in their ultimate causes including the phylogeny and adaptive significance of disease manifestations. Yet, as clinicians or basic researchers, we are conscious of potential evolutionary roots of neurological and psychiatric symptoms, often offering a rudimentary explanation but never delving deeply into the current role of evolutionary science as it relates to health and disease. We may miss appreciation of the role of adaptive properties, evolutionarily based neuronal circuitries, unbalanced cellular energy demands, and the potential health consequences of residual syndromic behaviors that were possibly useful in early times of human development, but presently are obsolete and pathological. The problem is amplified, because there is often no interdisciplinary dialogue between anthropology and evolutionary biology on one side and clinical sciences on the other side. However, the evolutionary tracing back of disease pathways may disclose unexpected insights and trigger the design of innovative research as well as propel the development of new therapeutic interventions. There could also be a better apprehension of compensatory behaviors, both at the cellular level as well as the systemic the behavioural levels, that could be the expected fruits of such collaborations. So far scientists fall short in modeling the complexity of human (social) life, human language, or manual dexterity, and mental or emotional behaviors that typify human neurological or psychological function and dysfunction. Finally, there remain obstacles in the form of poor animal modeling for human brain diseases and for human longevity. The present book aims to fill these gaps by presenting an evolutionary view of neurological and psychiatric conditions that is meant to complement and enrich existing medical perspectives"--