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Principal Investigator: Roger A. Fielding
Organization: BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL
Fiscal Year: 2024
Award: $438,138
Funding agency: National Institute on Aging
SUMMARY / ABSTRACT
Preserving late-life mobility, defined as the ability to walk safely and independently, is central to maintaining a
high quality of life, is critical for the performance of many activities of daily living and is necessary for
maintaining physical independence. Therefore, the continued development and standardization of tools that
can reliably assess physical functioning and disability status will be important for addressing the growing
challenge that societies worldwide will face with the expanding older population. The physical function
assessment core seeks to continue to provide the necessary infrastructure to perform standardized, valid and
reliable measures of musculoskeletal impairments, physical function, and disability across the spectrum of
observational studies and clinical trials embedded within, supported by, or associated with the Boston-OIAC.
The leadership of this core has collaborated extensively over the past project period, has unique experience in
the application of these measurements across a wide range of cross-sectional and intervention studies in older
adults, and has been on the leading edge of the development and refinement of new instruments and
technologies to assess domains of physical function and disability.
We propose to examine the following specific aims:
Aim 1: We will provide an organized infrastructure for FAC-supported procedures and activities across Tufts’
Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital Laboratory of Exercise
Physiology and Physical Function and serve as focal point for interdisciplinary collaboration by OAIC
investigators in the development, evaluation, and application of new and existing tools and instruments to
assess musculoskeletal impairments, physical function, and disability in older adults to evaluate the efficacy of
function promoting therapies.
Aim 2: We will provide direct measurement and consultative services, as well as assist with proposal
development for clinical studies supported by, or associated with, the theme of the OAIC that require measures
of musculoskeletal impairments, physical function, and/or disability. All Core services will use standardized
equipment and operating protocols for the assessment of muscle performance and functional limitations in
human studies, and will maintain extensive quality control procedures including: personnel training and
certification; equipment maintenance; and quality control.
Aim 3: We will develop novel and innovative approaches to assess musculoskeletal impairments, physical
function, and disability in older adults. The FAC will also support innovative developmental projects that seek
to develop or further validate innovative approaches to assess musculoskeletal impairments, physical function,
and disability in older adults.
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