Research Snapshots

These are research highlights taken from our newsletter, the Life Course Ledger. Sign up to receive the LCC's monthly newsletter by emailing [email protected].



Racial Differences in Nursing Home Quality of Life Among Residents Living With Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias

Journal of Aging and Health  |  Shippee, T. P., Parikh, R. R., Baker, Z. G., Bucy, T. I., Ng, W., Jarosek, S., Qin, X., Woodhouse, M., Nkimbeng, M., & McCarthy, T.

  • Compared to White residents, racially/ethnically minoritized residents reported significantly lower quality of life 
  • Significant differences remained, even after adjusting for resident- and facility-level characteristics
  • Large disparities in food enjoyment, attention from staff, and engagement domains



Study indicates need to directly measure quality of life for residents in nursing home facilities

Journal of the American Medical Directors Association  |  Tetyana Pylypiv Shippee, Romil R. Parikh, Yinfei Duan, John R. Bowblis, Mark Woodhouse, and Teresa Lewis 

  • Study in Minnesota and Ohio shows that the Minimum Data Set 3.0 for measuring deficiencies in nursing homes only accounts for a small proportion of variance in residents’ quality of life
  • Direct surveys of quality of life among residents is necessary to plan and evaluate person-centered care in nursing home facilities 



Respite and social support improve caregivers’ wellbeing more than exercise interventions

Innovation in Aging  |  Tai Sims, Kristine Talley, Joseph Gaugler, Cynthia Peden-McAlpine, Laura Kirk, Fang Yu

  • Caregivers for persons with Alzheimer’s dementia experience reduced sense of burden and improved wellbeing from community-based exercise programs for the people they care for
  • Qualitative findings suggest the improvements were the result of the respite and social support provided by the program, not the exercise itself 



Shorter primary care visits result in more inappropriate prescribing

JAMA Health Forum  |  Hannah Neprash, John Mulcahy, Dori Cross, Joseph Gaugler, Ezra Golberstein, Ishani Ganguli 

  • Shorter visits associated with higher likelihood of inappropriate antibiotic prescribing for patients with upper respiratory tract infections and coprescribing of opioids and benzodiazepines for patients with painful conditions
  • Younger, publicly insured, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic Black patients receive shorter primary care visits, potentially contributing to racial disparities in the health care system
  • Research study a result of the LCC pilot grant program



Find us at PAA 2023!

We are excited to have a fantastic group of people presenting research at the annual Population Association of America (PAA) annual meeting this year. 

Check out our schedule!

We will also have a booth in the Exhibit Hall. If you are attending, stop by and see us! 

Use Twitter? Tag us @umnlifecourse and we'll retweet you!



Childhood lead exposure harms cognition later in life

Children who were exposed to lead in their drinking water have worse cognitive functioning more than 50 years later. New research from LCC members Mark Lee and Rob Warren is the first to estimate the long-term consequences of childhood lead exposure using data collected from a nationally representative sample of Americans. 

Read an article in the Guardian about the study.



Steven Ruggles Named MacArthur Fellow

LCC Member Steven Ruggles, Regents Professor of History and Population Studies and Director of the Institute for Social Research and Data Innovation at the University of Minnesota, has been honored by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation as one of this year’s MacArthur Fellows. Commonly known as the “genius grant”, the fellowship is regarded as one of the nation’s most prestigious awards for intellectual and artistic achievement. Ruggles is being recognized for founding IPUMS, the world's largest publicly available population database that also harmonizes data to facilitate comparative analysis across time and space.



Major study explores how education shapes risk of dementia

The University of Minnesota is playing a key role in an upcoming study of Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias (ADRD) that will re-contact more than 14,000 Americans from the high school class of 1972 to study how education affects ADRD risk and racial/ethnic differences in that risk. The $50.3 million grant brings together experts from eight universities, including sociologist John Robert Warren from the University of Minnesota’s Institute for Social Research and Data Innovation.



2022 Data-Intensive Research Conference: Contextualizing Work and Health Disparities across the Life Course

JULY 20 - 21, 2022 | MINNEAPOLIS, MN & ONLINE

COVID-19 has changed conventions around work and health while also highlighting and exacerbating disparities. These changes are taking place alongside technological innovations, globalization, shifting economies, and changing demographics of places and the workforce. The 2022 Data-Intensive Research Conference will showcase research that explores disparities in work and health within and across particular contexts and demographic subgroups in the U.S. and international settings.

Pre-conference workshop materials and session recordings will be made available following the conference. For pressing questions about the conference, email [email protected]; registered participants should consult the latest conference email message for details about conference proceedings, including room locations and Zoom links.



Influencing Factors of Loneliness Among Hmong Older Adults in the Premigration, Displacement, and Postmigration Phases

LCC Member: Cindy Vang

Published in The Journal of Refugee Studies. Read the full article.

Minimal research has simultaneously explored the premigration, displacement, and postmigration experiences of loneliness among older adults with a refugee history. This study aimed to explore the factors influencing loneliness in these three phases among Hmong older adults with a refugee background. Interviews were conducted with 17 Hmong  adults aged 65 and older residing in Northern California. Findings revealed the influencing factors emerging from systems of oppression grounded within the social, political, and cultural context of each phase. Influencing factors of loneliness were identified as betrayal, familial loss, instability, war violence, loss of social status, isolation, diminishing filial piety, language barrier, declining health, and lack of purpose. This study highlights the need for more research, practice, and policy focused on the context of the refugee experience to gain a greater insight into their loneliness experiences.