Effects of Alzheimer's Disease in the Prediagnosis Period on Financial Outcomes

The goal of this research is to understand how Alzheimer's Disease (AD)--before it is diagnosable using currently availability tools affects the financial well-being of the individuals and families of those it afflicts. We are conducting analyses of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) data linked to Medicare claims data. The HRS includes longitudinal information on financial outcomes for a large panel of U.S. adults over age 50. Linking the HRS to Medicare claims data enables us to identify individuals who were diagnosed with AD by a physician and their date of diagnosis, so that we can look backward over time at the vulnerable period prior to diagnosis. In Year 1 of our project, we constructed the merged data; derived key dependent and independent variables and calculated descriptive statistics; and performed initial analyses of the effect of AD on financial outcomes. In the next phase of the project, we will refine and finalize our analyses and disseminate our results.