Research Projects

closeup of an elderly patient's arm with a vitals tracking wristband

Urban-Rural Environmental Stress
Inequities in ADRD

Assessing Urban-Rural Environmental Stress Inequities in ADRD through Ecological Momentary Assessment Start Date: 7/10/2024 End Date: 6/30/2029 Funder: This study aims to identify and understand the role of environmental stressors in the development of Alzheimer’s Disease-Related Dementias (ADRD) and related health inequities across urban and rural populations. We will recruit 600 participants (300 urban dwelling...

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Advancing Surveillance of Congenital
Heart Defects

Advancing Surveillance of Congenital Heart Defects: Using Unparalleled Informatics and Data Science to Improve the Health of Children, Adolescents, and Adults Start Date: 9/30/2024 End Date: 9/29/2029 Funder: To better understand the magnitude and burden of CHD in Indiana, this project uses population-based surveillance approaches to: (1) employ available methods for identification of CHD cases...

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elderly man suffering from depression

ADEPT-ICU

Attenuating Depression with Internet Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to Slow Cognitive Decline in Older Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Survivors Start Date: 8/15/2024 End Date: 6/30/2029 Funder: Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) affect 47 million people worldwide with an annual global cost of $818 billion. The risk of developing ADRD is disproportionately borne by older...

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Transplant Research for Equity and Access Team (TREAT)

The Transplant Research for Equity and Access Team (TREAT) is a multidisciplinary collaborative team of clinicians, biostatisticians, epidemiologists, behavioral scientists, and data scientists from the Regenstrief Institute, Indiana University, and Emory School of Medicine’s Department of Surgery. TREAT has two main areas of research interest, including one in 1) transplant health services and outcomes research...

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Decreasing Delirium through Music

What is the purpose of this research study? The purpose of this study is to find out if patients who are in the ICU and using a ventilator will benefit from listening to music. Patients on a ventilator in the ICU often experience feelings of confusion which is called delirium. Patients may also experience pain...

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Image of a person pulling a large COVID molecule signifying post-covid conditions

Tracking Post-COVID-19 Conditions
(Track PCC)

Tracking the burden, distribution, and impact of post COVID-19 conditions in diverse populations for children, adolescents, and adults Dates: 09/2022-09/2027 In collaboration with the CDC, Indiana and Regenstrief Institute are studying the incidence and prevalence of long COVID or Post-COVID-19 Conditions (PCC). We will recruit Hoosiers ages 7+ who have recently tested positive for COVID-19...

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Indiana Addiction Data Commons

Who can work with the IADC and access the underlying data? The IADC is a resource which can be leveraged by researchers, public health professionals, community organizations, and policy makers. Access to the underlying data will be dependent on data governance limitations and will vary from use case to use case. The IADC will work with data requestors to...

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Brain Safe

Brain Safe

This study is a randomized clinical trial (RCT) of the efficacy of a direct-to-consumer intervention called Brain Safe to primarily reduce older adults’ exposure to prescription anticholinergics and secondarily improve cognitive function and health-related quality of life. Over 42 months, the trial will enroll 700 community-dwelling older adults who were prescribed one or more strong...

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R2D2

STUDY DATES: 05/01/2019 – 03/31/2024 As many as 30% of older adults use a medication that increases the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD), however no study has yet tested whether stopping anticholinergics in current users results in improved and sustained benefit on cognition. This proposal will conduct a randomized trial to determine...

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IN-PEACE

This study aims to test an innovative supportive care model that integrates dementia care and palliative care in the community setting for patients with moderate to severe dementia and their primary caregiver compared to usual care. Caregivers of patients with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias will receive education materials specific to dementia. For those randomized...

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HHS and IHS Health Information Technology Modernization Initiative

While Regenstrief Institute’s Global Health Informatics (GHI) team is well known in many parts of the world for its expertise in developing open technologies in solidarity with health practitioners in resource-constrained environments, this project focuses on an underserved population within the United States. Evaluating an HIT System The work is designed to help answer the...

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Exploring the Use and Outcomes of Health Information Exchanges in Emergency Settings

Health information exchange (HIE) involves the electronic exchange of clinical and/or administrative health data across the boundaries of health care institutions, health data repositories, and states. Widespread HIE has the potential to improve health care, and HIE has been described as a critical component of recent health reform initiatives including value-based care and patient centered...

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Leveraging Health Information Exchange to Build a Patient Registry for Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) and Stroke

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the most prevalent and severely disabling neurological disorders in the US. Nationwide, 1.7 million people experience TBI each year of which 3 to 5 million live with a TBI-related disability. Additionally, deaths due to TBI represent about a third of all injury-related deaths in the US. As such,...

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Elderly mother walking outside with adult daughter

Decisions about Cancer Screening in Alzheimer’s Disease – DECAD

Test the impact of a decision aid for mammograms to support decision making about breast cancer screening for older women with dementia. The decision aid is aimed at caregivers of women with dementia. Women with AD and other forms of dementia, along with their caregivers, will be randomized to 2 study arms- one arm will...

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Decreasing Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias after Delirium- Exercise and Cognitive Training

During stays in the Intensive Care Unit patients are at a higher risk of delirium, PTSD, and other diseases. The powerful life-saving treatments used in Intensive Care Units can have serious long-term effects on patients’ health. Research by Principal Investigator Babar Khan has already shown that patients who can get up and move during their...

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Mobile Critical Care Recovery Program

The Mobile Critical Care Recovery Program (m-CCRP) is a research study being conducted by the Indiana University Center for Aging Research. During stays in the Intensive Care Unit patients are at a higher risk of Delirium, PTSD, and other diseases. Recovery after discharge is an important part of making sure that true, healthy healing takes place....

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Identifying communicative factors affecting opioid management for chronic pain

The use of opioid medications for the treatment of chronic non-cancer pain has risen dramatically in the past two decades.  There are a number of risks associated with the long term use of opioids, most notably the potential for misuse.  Successful opioid management strategies for chronic non-cancer pain depend upon effective patient-provider communication.  Improving the...

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The Great Lakes Practice Transformation Network

The Great Lakes Practice Transformation Network (GLPTN) is a new network of 12 leading medical centers in 8 states committed to a shared vision of improving healthcare delivery through ongoing learning, adoption of evidence-based practices, and active research dissemination. The GLPTN builds on strong research programs at each sites, existing community engagement, informatics infrastructures and data warehouses...

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Bisphosphonate drug holidays: Factors influencing timing, duration, re-initiation of therapy and attitudes

This study concerns related prolonged suppression of bone turnover, and potential adverse events related to long-term use of bisphosphonates have recently led to the practice of provider implementation of “drug holidays” or time off of bisphosphonate therapy. Although there is some evidence supporting safety of undergoing drug holidays, there are few data to guide decisions...

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Center for Cancer Population Analytics and Patient Centered Informatics

The mission of this center is to develop team science that combines innovative health information technologies with rigorous health services research methods in order to create knowledge that will have an impact upon the health and health care of patients and populations with cancer in the state of Indiana and the U.S The Center focuses...

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Estimation of PRN sleep medications in the databases using additional clinical information – PRN Sleep Medications

Accurately identifying drug exposure is critical in pharmacoepidemiology studies. However, in the setting of sleep medications, there is no empirical evidence on the consistency of providers in using the ‘as needed’ designation (PRN) when prescribing these drugs or the impact of PRN prescribing on actual usage patterns by patients. Identifying patient characteristics associated with PRN...

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Pharmacogenomics

This project is designed to provide genomics information on a variety of commonly prescribed drugs to determine how genomics data provided to the clinician can change the care provided to the patient as well as the economics of the drugs prescribed by using clinical decision support rules and genomic lab results in both general and...

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Managing Cancer Risk

Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of death from cancer in men and women in the U.S. Additionally, it is the most preventable but least prevented cancer in this country. Colorectal cancer is highly treatable if found early, but nearly half of adults age 50 or older have not been screened as recommended. Cologuard,...

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OpenMRS - HIV Case Reporting

OpenMRS – HIV Case Reporting

As a partner to CDC’s Global AIDS program, Regenstrief Institute’s work on OpenMRS is fundamentally focused around ways in which patient record keeping systems (specifically, electronic medical record systems) can improve health outcomes around HIV and other life threatening diseases. By building platforms that empower health care settings in resource poor environments, we support the...

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WeCare Indiana

WeCare Indiana

Indiana faces a crisis related to its youngest residents. The death of a baby before his or her first birthday, termed “infant mortality,” is considered to be one of the most important indicators of the health and well-being of a population, and Indiana’s infant mortality rate is significantly higher than the national average. In 2017,...

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PROMIS

Symptoms account for more than 400 million clinic visits annually in the United States. However, in contrast to specific diseases, symptoms have received far less attention in research, training, and consequently, patient care. Five symptoms that warrant special attention are the SPADE pentad – sleep problems, pain, anxiety, depression, and energy/fatigue. These 5 symptoms are...

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Delivering Hospice and Palliative Care Services to Nursing Home Patients

Having a family member in a nursing home can be an incredibly stressful experience. Families of older adults in nursing homes may not always be aware of options for care, and these options may not always be well understood by the patients themselves. One in four Americans die in a nursing home. Hospice use in...

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Hypoglycemia Risk Calculator

Hypoglycemia is common and dangerous in diabetes mellitus, so identifying at-risk patients may lead to useful preventive strategies. This Regenstrief-Merck partnership aims to design a risk calculator to aid clinicians in identifying at-risk patients who may benefit from preventive strategies. The project team members will conduct a retrospective cohort analysis, focus-group discussions, use of a...

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Transforming Clinical Practices Initiative

Medical costs are rising far quicker than our economy can catch up. We’re already seeing the strain that this is placing on the Medicare budget, as well as private insurance. The Great Lakes Practice Transformation Network is attempting to help doctors provide better care, more effectively, at lower costs.

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Treating Obesity in At-Risk Patients

HOME: Healthy-me Online weight-Management Education The main objective for the randomized control trial (RCT) of Video-Conference and In-Person Weight Loss Services for Adult CHC Patients project is to identify effective methods of treating obesity in at-risk populations. A 2kg is associated with a 20% reduction in the 3 year risk of hypertension. We will compare...

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SymTrak

What if there were a way for doctors to easily and effectively track the general symptoms of their patients over time? What if this tracking included input from a loved one, to get a better picture of true wellness? SymTrak hopes to answer these questions by creating a questionnaire to do just that. This set...

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building view of Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital

Brain Health Patient Safety Learning Laboratory

Bringing in experts from diverse specialties like industrial engineering, pharmacy, and informatics, the Brain Safety Lab aims to develop strategies to reduce brain harm and increase safety both within and outside of the health industry. Brain Safety Lab is funded by a $4 million grant from Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to the Indiana...

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Optimistic

As part of our continued goal of partnering with nursing homes in central Indiana, IU Center for Aging Research has received a $621,697 planning grant to evolve the current OPTIMISTIC model into a scalable package for national dissemination. This planning grant is designed to prepare for further implementation and dissemination of the OPTIMISTIC model, developed...

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