How multiple health conditions change medicines' effects in older adults
Official title: Evaluating the role of multimorbidity in modulation medication effects in older adults
Funded at Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences · NIH-11289313 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project looks at how having multiple chronic illnesses changes the benefits and harms of heart and diabetes medicines for older adults using large Medicare records.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Newark, UNITED STATES) |
| Project start | February 1, 2023 |
| Project end | January 31, 2028 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $672,139 |
| NIH project number | 5R01HL163163-04 |
| Project ID | NIH-11289313 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are older U.S. adults (typically Medicare-eligible) with diabetes and other chronic cardiometabolic conditions whose medical records are captured in claims databases.
✕Less likely to help
Younger adults under Medicare age, people without multiple chronic conditions, or those whose care is not captured in the study databases are unlikely to directly benefit from this project.
What this research studies
If you are an older adult with diabetes and other chronic conditions, researchers will use Medicare records from over 23 million people to see how multiple illnesses change medicine outcomes. They will apply a multimorbidity weighted index (MWI) to measure overall illness burden and compare outcomes for common cardiometabolic drugs across different levels of multimorbidity. Findings will be replicated in two other large databases to check reliability. The work aims to give clearer information about who is likely to benefit or be harmed by specific treatments.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could help doctors tailor heart and diabetes treatments to older patients with multiple conditions to reduce harms and improve benefits.
How similar studies have gone: Previous research shows multimorbidity affects medication outcomes, but applying the multimorbidity weighted index at this national scale for cardiometabolic drugs is relatively new.
Where this research is happening
-
Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences
Newark, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Dave, Chintan — Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences
- Study coordinator: Dave, Chintan
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.