A strong programme of research is led by Ngaire Kerse, a collaborating member of the Consortium for Health in Ageing. The research programme based at the School of Population Health comprises a series of intervention and observational studies aiming to improve understanding of the development and prevention of disability, reduce injury form falls, improve care in residential aged care and continue a cohort study of advanced ageing. LiLACs NZ is a cohort study that examines predictors of advanced age and the pathways of those in advanced age; 420 Maori aged 80-90 years and 527 non-Maori aged 85 years were enrolled in 2010 and we hope to follow long term.

• Falls and older people: studies of falls in older people after stroke, in residential care and in a large sample of primary care patients have led to collaborative teams aiming to prevent falls through intervention development and testing.
• Understanding the way things are done around here, organisational culture, and how culture may or may not be related to falls in residential care is a focus.
• Medication use in all contexts. Studies of pharmaco-epidemiology of medication us in older people are ongoing
• The impact of physical activity on development of disability and amelioration of depression. Various physical activity trials have led to an understanding of the potential to prevent development of disability.
• Te Puāwaitanga O Ngā Tapuwae Kia Ora Tonu, Life and Living in Advanced Age: a Cohort Study in New Zealand, LiLACS NZ. (Health Research Council and Ministry of Health funded programme)

Programme overview

Contact

Prof Ngaire Kerse
Head of School of Population Health
General Practice and Primary Health Care
Room: 730-374
Phone: +64 9 373 7599 ext 84467
Email: n.kerse@auckland.ac.nz