A National Agenda for Research on Aging

Abstract

On June 12, 1991, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy\nof Sciences released a report delineating a national agenda for research on\naging. In this report, a committee of 18 national leaders in health care\nidentified national priorities for research on aging for the next 20 years and\nestimated the resources required to implement the research agenda....Areas of\nresearch assigned a high priority were selected on the basis of their\npotential to do the following: (1) contribute to understanding of the basic\nmechanisms of aging, (2) address problems of disability and functional\nimpairment in older persons, (3) increase knowledge both of the interaction\nbetween disease and aging and of age-related diseases, (4) lower morbidity and\nmortality rates among older persons, (5) be capable of being implemented in a\ntimely manner, (6) lead to a reduction in the costs of health care, (7)\nincrease knowledge of behavioral and social factors in health and disease and\nhelp older people maintain social as well as biologic health, (8) improve the\npharmacologic treatment of patients, and (9) address relatively neglected\nareas of investigation.