Demography of Health and Aging

Welcome

Welcome to the homepage of the research group on demography of health and aging in the Department of Kinesiology and Community Health at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Research

In this research group, we are conducting studies to understand social, behavioral, economic, and biological determinants of population health over the life course, with a focus on Latin America and the Caribbean.

Our research involves analyzing large datasets from many countries. These data sources provide information from genes to environment that are crucial to understand the interactions between social, behavioral, economic, and biological determinants of population health over the life course. The primary outcomes of interest in our work are:

Outcomes

• healthy life expectancy
• quality of life
• obesity
• diabetes mellitus
• comorbid conditions

Recent collaborations have also focused on the impact of low health literacy and low English proficiency on health outcomes and health care services among Latinos in the United States.

Current projects focus on the interactions of obesity, non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus, disability and life expectancy in Latin America and the Caribbean. An examination of crossectional and longitudinal data have enabled us to understand health status and health transitions over the life course. This research project has several collaborators in the United States, Brazil, Mexico, and Costa Rica.

Staff

If you have additional questions, please contact Principal Investigator Dr. Flavia Andrade (fandrade@illinois.edu).