Page Title

Pilot Research         ♦ Work done before the study to determine                      ► 5-15 years
                            that the study is worthwhile

Planning                  ♦ Designing the Study, Writing and Submitting
                            a Research Proposal to the Funding Institute                         ► 1-2 years

If the Research Study receives funding, it will be for a specific period of time, such as 5 years.

Preparing                 ♦ Developing all the procedures needed to
                           carry out the research study: getting ready                             ► 6 mos.-1 yr

Recruiting                ♦ Enrolling all the people who will make
                           the research real- in the Mobilize Boston Study                       ► 1-3 years

Collecting Data        ♦ Gathering the information provided by participants,
                           medical tests, questionnaires, calendars                                 ► 3 years

Analyzing Data         ♦ Reviewing the information collected to reach
                            valid scientific conclusions                                                      ► 6 months

RESULTS -              ♦ Other scientists and medical professionals learn
Publishing Data         about the results of the study by reading about               ► 1or more
                             them in professional journals

Sharing Results with the Public: When a scientific article is published, TV and newspapers may
report on it. However, the report doesn’t usually tell you what the results mean in non-scientific
terms. Later, if the results of the study are proven to be useful, public education programs will
translate the scientific findings into practical information.

Putting Results into Practice: This happens when the medical community believes the findings
of the study are meaningful in the care of patients. This may mean new knowledge about
prevention of health problems or diagnosis and treatment of problems.

We hope this has shed a little light on the reason why good research
         that can help people lead better lives takes a long time!

                                        MONTHLY CALENDARS!

Your monthly calendars contribute important information to this study. We know it takes
time to complete and mail your monthly calendar, and we appreciate it!

                                Each month, we receive over 750 calendars!

We carefully review the information about whether or not you have fallen, and the answers to each
of the 4 questions about pain, mobility, the shoes you wear and whether you have been to the
hospital.

Then we review it again to make sure we recorded your answers correctly. Each of your answers is
important to this research.

The Calendar information you send to us will help us make good, scientific conclusions which can
be useful to the general population of older adults.

WHAT DO THE QUESTIONS ON THE MONTHLY CALENDAR TELL US?

Very few studies of older persons have examined pain and pain management as we are
in the Mobilize Boston Study.
We are learning that many, many people are dealing with chronic pain and that there are many
types of pain in older adults, not only pain due to arthritis.

We are also learning about the types of problems people have related to pain and the many things
they do to help relieve their pain so that they can keep doing all their usual activities.

Despite the fact that humans have worn shoes for centuries, it is only recently that
shoes have caught the attention of the research world!
Mobilize Boston participants are one of the first groups to be able to evaluate the role that shoes
might have for seniors. We know that most participants wore formal shoes (oxfords, high-heels)
before they retired and now typically wear more casual shoes. We also know that it is very difficult
to chose ONLY ONE shoe type that you wear. However it is very helpful to us if you try to choose
the ONE type you most wear most often. We are learning a lot about the shoes you wear and how
shoes may affect, both positively or negatively, the activities you do. We’ll tell you more about the
effects of shoewear as we continue our research.

What have we learned from you?

As a participant in the MOBILIZE Boston Study, we ask you to complete and return a monthly
calendar to us, recording each day of the month whether or not you have fallen.

Each month we receive over 700 postcards from our participants with information about whether
you have had a fall during the past month, and with answers to the questions about pain, mobility,
footwear and hospital visits.

This wealth of information is very interesting, and will continue to help us learn more about falls,
pain and mobility. Here are some of the facts we have gathered from all of your answers each
month.

FEET
When MOBILIZE participants had their feet examined at the clinic visit by our clinical staff, we
found the following related to foot conditions:

General foot pain was present in...        26% of women and in 20% of men
Flat Foot was present in ………..           20% of women and in 17% of men
Bunions were present in ………..           58% of women and in 25% of men

Some interesting facts regarding women's high-heel wearing habits:

53% wore heels or pumps between 20 and 29 years of age
43% wore heels or pumps between 30 and 44 years of age
29% wore heels or pumps between 45 and 64 years of age
  5% wore heels or pumps between 65 and 74 years of age

Reporting falls: What you have taught us

About two-thirds (67%) of our study participants report
having had at least one fall prior to our first interview,
or have fallen since we started following them.

All the falls calendars you have returned, and the telephone interviews about your falls have
helped us find some very informative facts about falls in older adults.

Over 55% of our participants have fallen at least once during their participation.
More than half of these falls happen indoors, mostly in participant’s own homes.

In the year 2007 alone there were as many as 575 falls reported by participants.

More than 40% of the fallers have experienced multiple falls in one year.

Injuries are common: two-thirds (68%) of falls result in some kind of injury.

Hospitalizations are less common: about 1 in 10 of injurious falls – 11% – are severe enough to
warrant hospitalization.

We have learned so far that falls are hard to predict with certainty. We have developed new
knowledge about falls. Most importantly, we have identified that people who fall inside their own
homes are very different from people who fall outside of their own homes.

People who fall indoors tend to be more physically frail and have more illness.

People who fall outdoors tend to be in better physical health, and to be more mobile, with a more
active lifestyle.

People who experience depression tend to have more falls, (indoors and outdoors).

We will continue to examine the information you provide us in order to understand more about risk
factors for falls, and ways to prevent them. Helping older adults avoid falling can help them lead
longer active and independent lives.

To date, close to 30 scientific papers about results of this study have been published in major
journals, providing important information to scientists and doctors seeking to learn about falls and
the elderly.

23 presentations about this study have been made at major scientific and medical conferences.
Based on Mobilize Boston results, new studies are being designed to continue learning about risk
factors for falls.

PAIN
We have learned new information about the problem of pain and pain related conditions in the
MOBILIZE Boston Study. This is one of the first studies to examine Fibromyalgia in older adults. A
chronic pain condition thought to be common, it was found in fewer than 1% of women and in none
of the men in the study. Since more than half of the people in the study reported that they have
chronic pain, and most of these have pain in multiple areas of the body, we have more questions
about what are the causes of this pain.   From your answers to the calendar questions we’re also
finding that there are many ways to evaluate pain and how it effects a person's ability to walk. Our
ongoing research will shed light on how best to evaluate and manage pain to limit the impact of
pain on the day-to-day living of older adults.

WHY DO WE USE MONTHLY CALENDARS TO REPORT FALLS?
From time to time we have received questions from some of you about this, recently we were
asked, “Why can’t I just tell you every now and again if I have fallen?”

To address this, we conducted a pilot or “mini” study last year. We were interested in determining
whether we could get precise information about falls if we contacted people by telephone every
three months and asked, “Have you fallen within the past three months?” We contacted over 200
randomly selected MOBILIZE Boston Study participants and compared their ability to recall falls
over the telephone after three months, to the information they had returned on their falls calendars
for the same time period. That is, we asked over the phone about falls the months of December,
January, and February, then compared the responses to the information that they had returned on
the monthly calendars for the same three months.

We found that 25% of the time, participants did not recall a fall in the previous three months, even
though they had reported a fall on the calendar they had returned!

Our results were reported at the Gerontologic Society of America Annual Scientific Meeting in
November, 2008. This will help other researchers choose the best methods to collect accurate
information from older adults over time.

We concluded that using the monthly calendar to track falls in older adults living in the community
resulted in a more accurate record of falls than asking by telephone every few months.

Since getting an accurate record of falls is important in our work, we have continued the use of the
monthly calendars.

We thank you sincerely for faithfully sending in your monthly Falls Calendars!




	Mobilize Boston Community Senior Health Study Study Participant Newsletter At the Institute for Aging Research at Hebrew SeniorLife, scientists conduct rigorous medical and social studies focused entirely on aging. We are leading the way in developing strategies for making the most of individuals' strength, vigor and physical well-being as well as their ability to think and function independently in late life. The Mobilize Boston study is a part of this work. Your participation in the Mobilize Boston Study will contribute to even more changes in medical practice for future generations of people! WHY DOES IT TAKE SO LONG TO LEARN FROM A RESEARCH STUDY? It is important to make sure that everything about the study is safe for people involved, and that it is good science so that we can rely on what we learn. The process of designing, funding, conducting and evaluating research is filled with careful review in order to provide accurate conclusions which may improve peoples’ lives. The following will give you a sense of the time this takes: