Prognostic indices to guide care for hospitalized older adults with and without Alzheimer's and related dementias
Official title: Prognostic Indices for Hospitalized Older Adults with and without Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias
Funded at Northern California Institute/res/edu · NIH-11399258 · Data updated 2026-11-12
Aging patients in hospitals could get more personalized care by using new, easy-to-create scores from electronic health records to predict who might benefit most from hospice, palliative care, or medication changes.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Northern California Institute/res/edu NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (San Francisco, United States) |
| Project start | September 1, 2023 |
| Project end | May 31, 2028 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $742,083 |
| NIH project number | 5R01AG079982-04 |
| Project ID | NIH-11399258 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Hospitalized adults aged older and with or at risk for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, for whom prognostic information could influence care planning.
✕Less likely to help
Patients whose trajectory is not well captured by the EHR data or whose care decisions are not influenced by prognosis may see no direct benefit.
What this research studies
This project will create and test easy-to-use prognostic scores based on patients’ electronic health records to help guide critical care decisions for hospitalized older adults. It will develop two separate indices: one predicting 6-month mortality to inform hospice referrals, and another predicting 2-year mortality to guide outpatient palliative care and deprescribing. The indices will be built for patients with and without Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, leveraging functional data now being routinely recorded in EHRs. External validation will ensure the tools work across different hospitals and patient populations. The goal is to improve care quality by identifying who is most likely to benefit from targeted services while considering function and disease trajectory.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, these prognostic indices could help clinicians tailor hospice, palliative care, and medication decisions to individual hospitalized older adults, including those with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.
How similar studies have gone: Previous work suggests that prognostic models using functional data can improve predictions in older adults, but external validation across hospitals is essential for broader adoption.
Where this research is happening
-
Northern California Institute/res/edu
San Francisco, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Lee, Sei — Northern California Institute/res/edu
- Study coordinator: Lee, Sei
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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.