Two new Research Projects: BRIGHT Trial & LILAC Study

One of the objects of the New Zealand Association of Gerontology is “to promote and disseminate quality research.” The NZAG conference is one way your Association showcased some of the many quality research projects being conducted. In this blog post we are pleased to profile two current projects. Both illustrate the commitment of local researchers to seek answers to the things that matter in the everyday lives of older New Zealanders.

BRIGHTen up your day

Principal Investigator – Professor Ngaire Kerse

Can we make the lives of our older people better by being proactive about health surveillance? This is the question addressed by the Brief Risk Identification Geriatric Health Tool (BRIGHT) trial.

With the ageing of the population there are significant opportunities to forestall health related disability with both health promoting interventions and improvement of disability in those with functional decline.

The BRIGHT Trial has been underway for more than three years. 3,893 older people aged 75 years and over (or 65 years and over for Maori) were recruited from 148 general practitioners in three District Health Board areas of New Zealand – Canterbury, Capital and Coast and the Western Bay of Plenty. The 36 month questionnaire using computer aided telephone interviewing (CATI) is about to commence in Wellington.

• In intervention practices, practice staff administer the case-finding process by posting the BRIGHT tool to older patients and running a recall process (this is supported by extra funding to each intervention practice). For those who score badly, a referral to the local geriatric assessment service is generated. Subsequent case management will coordinate referrals and interventions to reduce disability.
• In control practices, older patients receive services in the usual way, including use of whatever geriatric services are available.

Disability, quality of life, residential care placement and hospitalisations of all patients will be followed over three years.

Is this complex process worth it? Are we creating more worried-well instead of stamping out disability? Is the extra work benefiting older people or just making everyone busy? The BRIGHT trial will help answer these questions. If case-finding is cost-effective in reducing disability, the benefits to older people and the health system will be substantial.

The research team wishes to acknowledge the New Zealand Health Research Council (HRC) as funder for the BRIGHT Trial.

Life and Living in Advanced Age: a Cohort Study in New Zealand

Principle Investigators: Professor Ngaire Kerse & Dr Lorna Dyall

Little is known about how and why people live a long life. The LILAC Study honours the contribution of people of advanced age to society and records their experiences of a long life.

The study is a total population cohort study of those of advanced age living in the Bay of Plenty and Lakes District Health Board areas. We are inviting 1200 older Maori and non Maori (currently about 300 people enrolled) to complete an interviewer-led questionnaire, a physical health assessment and a blood test.

By gathering information about a range of things, we will be able to understand the balance of importance between health and psychological aspects, environmental and cultural practices, and social and economic aspects for ongoing health and wellbeing in advanced age. We will gather comprehensive information now, and then follow the older person through late life with a reduced set of questions.

We are grateful for substantial funding for baseline data collection from the Health Research Council of NZ and Ng Pae o te Mramatanga, and a small project grant from the Oakley Mental Health Research Foundation. The Health Research Council has granted funding for waves 2 and 3.

If you would like to profile a gerontological study with the NZAG membership, please contact us.

Dr Valerie Wright-St Clair