# BLACK ELDERLY TWIN STUDY

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO · 1993 · $366,244

## Abstract

The purpose of the Black Elderly Twin Study (BETS) is to estimate the
genetic and nongenetic contributions to physical functioning in a
population of black twin pairs aged 65 years and older.  We propose to
identify a national cohort of two populations: 2,985 black twin pairs; plus
a control sample of white twin pairs from the Medicare enrollment files of
the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA).  Both samples will include
male-male and female-female pairs.

A baseline telephone interview will be administered to all twin pairs.
This interview will include the following measures of physical functioning:
Katz Activities of Daily Living, Lawton and Brody Instrumental Activities
of Daily Living, Rosow and Breslau Gross Mobility Functions, and Nagi
Battery of Physical Performance.  The interview will also measure the
following factors that may influence physical functioning: specific chronic
diseases, cognitive impairment, depression, social functioning,
socio-economic status, and health habits (i.e. obesity, tobacco and alcohol
use, sleep).  In addition, a 12 month health history of all
hospitalizations and out-patient visits will be retrospectively
reconstructed by record linkage with Medicare computer files.

With these data, three primary hypotheses concerning the physical
functioning of older blacks can be tested: 1) Additive genetic effects and
shared common environment influence the phenotypic variability in physical
functioning as measured by each of the physical functioning instruments, 2)
For each instrument, individual items measure different dimensions of
physical functioning which are influenced by heredity and shared common
environment, 3) The effect of specific covariates (such as chronic
diseases, cognitive impairment and social function) are mediated through
additive genetics, shared common environment or both acting in concert.

The strength of the BETS project lies in that it is designed to enhance
understanding of physical functioning in older blacks by ascertaining
health status measures in a genetically informative sample: The potential
contribution of heredity to physical functioning has never been studied in
a large population of older U.S. blacks.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 3122338
- **Project number:** 5R01AG010430-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO
- **SAM.gov UEI:** W8XEAJDKMXH3
- **Principal Investigator:** TONI P. MILES
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1993
- **Award amount:** $366,244
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1991-09-30 → 1994-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/3122338

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 3122338, BLACK ELDERLY TWIN STUDY (5R01AG010430-03). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/3122338. Licensed CC0.

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