Biodemography investigates the underlying genetics or genomics of aging-related disease processes such as Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias and cancers. In such work, heterogeneity within the population in specific alleles or polygenic scores drive variation in longevity within populations, possibly without consideration of social, behavioral, or other sources of heterogeneity within a population that also produce health disparities.
Most of the scholars who work primarily in biodemography belong to the Biodemography of Aging Research Unit (BARU). BARU is an interdisciplinary team of established researchers with expertise ranging from demography/actuarial science to mathematics/physics, biology/genetics, genetic epidemiology, and health services research.
Illustrative research includes:
- Anatoliy Yashin is identifying the current time trends of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other dementias with a high level of accuracy. He is investigating the relationship between the time-trend in AD and the time-trend in cognitive impairment in U.S. older persons to reconcile their seemingly contradictory patterns and to uncover the role of potential risk factors contributing to variation of these time trends.
- Igor Akushevich, Konstantin Arbeev, Eric Stallard, Svetlana Ukraintseva, Anatoliy Yashin, and Arseniy Yashkin examine the complex interplay between infections, vaccinations, genetics, and cognitive decline, including Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other dementias, in older adults.
- Researchers in BARU also focus on genome-wide association studies of the biological bases of longevity, using data from many sources including the Framingham Study and the National Long-Term Care Survey, Medicare databases and patient’s electronic health records.
- The Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study carried out by Terrie Moffit and Avshalom Caspi is determining the impact of genomic factors (e.g. polygenic risk scores), genomic family history, family medical history, early life adversity, personality development, and other life course factors on the pace of aging.