The purpose of this application is to support the patient-oriented research program and career development of Vineet Arora, MD, MA, a fellowship-trained academic hospitalist at the University of Chicago. Dr. Arora's overall goal is to develop into an independent investigator with a focus on characterizing and improving sleep duration and sleep quality for older hospitalized patients. Dr. Arora will develop her research skills under the mentorship of Eve Van Cauter, PhD, a well-known authority on sleep and circadian rhythms in normal and pathologic states, with a focus on sleep in older persons. David Meltzer, MD, PhD, an accomplished investigator in research in hospital medicine and health economics with a focus on aging, will serve as a co- mentor. Dr. Arora will also benefit from the collective expertise in clinical care and research of older persons from a team of advisors, including Drs. Greg Sachs, Eric Coleman, and Daniel Brauner. She will also obtain necessary training and research skills from a team of collaborators including: (1) Babak Mokhlesi, MD, Director of the Sleep Medicine Fellowship, who will enable Dr. Arora to obtain formal training in sleep medicine; (2) Kristen Knutson, PhD, a research faculty and anthropologist who specializes in the use of actigraphy and sleep scales to quantify sleep duration and quality; and (3) Anirban Basu, PhD, an expert in statistical analysis. During the proposed award, Dr. Arora will obtain formal training in sleep medicine, health services research, and geriatrics through structured curricula and coursework at the University of Chicago. The overall goal of this research proposal is to elucidate how environmental, healthcare, and patient factors, in addition to a patients' level of perceived control, impact sleep duration and sleep quality in hospitalized older patients. In addition, the relationship between inpatient sleep (duration and quality) and outcomes (physical activity and other health outcomes) for hospitalized older patients will be characterized. Through this period of career development and research, Dr. Arora will be able to better understand the determinants and effects of in- hospital sleep which can enable the design of evidence-based interventions that aim to improve in-hospital sleep and associated outcomes for hospitalized older adults. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The overall goal of this research proposal is to elucidate how environmental, healthcare, and patient factors, in addition to a patients' level of perceived control, impact sleep duration and sleep quality in hospitalized older patients. In addition, the relationship between inpatient sleep (duration and quality) and outcomes (physical activity and other health outcomes) for hospitalized older patients will be characterized. Through this period of career development and research, Dr. Arora will be able to better understand the determinants and effects of in-hospital sleep which can enable the design of evidence-based interventions that aim to improve in-hospital sleep and associated outcomes for hospitalized older adults.

K23AG033763

2009-09-30

2014-08-31