Exploring Influences on the New NIH Policy on Age Limits in Research

(HealthDay) – The authors of an article recently published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society describe the factors that have influenced the National Institute of Health's new policy, which requires funded researchers to eliminate arbitrary age limits in their work.

Camille P. Vaughan, M.D., of Emory University in Atlanta, and colleagues explore how age-related changes in NIH research policy have emerged. Evaluations included the 2017 National Institutes of Health's workshop on inclusion policies and the resulting report, as well as advocacy from the American Geriatrics Society.

The authors report that AGS's advocacy "clearly affected" the workshop report as well as the Inclusion lifelong policy, which eliminates age limits for participation in research, unless the risk is justified. and modifies the wording used to describe seniors and other vulnerable groups. However, some AGS recommendations have not been included in the updated policy (for example, to encourage the active recruitment of older adults, to add standard measures of function and / or frailty and to modify the criteria for review to ensure that the health status of a study population reflects typical clinical populations).

"Advances in health and medicine are not just discovering new treatments, but discovering how these treatments improve the health, safety, and independence of unique individuals, including older adults." said Vaughan in a statement. "NIHs are taking an important step for research to reflect reality."

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