These University of Michigan researchers are among the many who are presenting studies and debating public policy issues at the 50th annual meeting of the Gerontological Society of America, Nov. 14-18, in Cincinnati, Ohio.

BEEPING BOTTLECAPS and wristwatches are effective, low-cost ways of helping older Americans take their medications on time, reports Denise C. Park, a cognitive psychologist at the U-M Institute for Social Research and principal investigator on a study of intervention strategies to improve medication adherence in African Americans with hypertension. For the study, funded by the National Institute on Aging, Park and colleagues monitored 202 patients, most with low-incomes. Those between the ages of 65 and 75 made the fewest mistakes in taking their medications for high blood pressure, while those between the ages of 55 and 64 made the most.

THE VERY OLDEST-OLD, those over the age of 95, seem to show a different pattern of aging than the young-old, the middle-old and the oldest-old, according to U-M Institute of Gerontology researcher Brant E. Fries and colleagues. That’s the finding from an analysis of health data on nearly 200,000 nursing home residents over the age of 80, including 6,500 men and women over the age of 100. “Something different starts happening in the mid-90s,” notes Fries. While the progress and development of disease slows down, the loss of function accelerates, suggesting the existence of a fourth stage of aging—the very oldest-old. “We don’t know why this change occurs,” he says, “but it may be associated with a wearing out of the human body beyond that of the direct effects of disease.”

ARE BEST FRIENDS MORE TROUBLE than they’re worth? More than half of older Americans have a best friend, according to research by U-M psychologists Jennifer Lansford and Toni Antonucci. But merely having a best friend didn’t help the 328 older men and women surveyed feel any better psychologically. Neither did feeling that they could count on their best friend to help them out if they were broke or sick. “Older adults may be reluctant to receive practical help from friends because they want to maintain an equitable relationship or not impose burdens or obligations,” Lansford and Antonucci suggest. So what good are best friends? It seems that all best-friendships are not created equal, and that the bad ones have the power to make older people more depressed while the good ones can really cheer them up.

THE ALZHEIMERIZATION OF AGING–Alzheimer’s Disease has a devastating impact on victims and their care-givers, but U-M Institute of Gerontology director Richard C. Adelman questions the wisdom of investing public research funds too narrowly at a time of growing economic constraints. “Exaggerated claims and misinformation about this illness pose a severe threat to the health of the broader community of elderly people by diverting public investment from equally important alternative avenues of research,” Adelman argues, debating the issue with colleagues Robert N. Butler, Leonard Hayflick and Daniel Callahan.

Institute of GerontologyToni AntonucciRichard C. AdelmanU-M News and Information ServicesUniversity of Michigan