| There is a paucity of research about the epidemiology of crime committed against older adults, and virtually nothing is known about its health consequences. This paper will summarize the work being done on a project that is linking an established longitudinal data set of older adults living in New Haven, Connecticut, EPESE (Established Population for Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly) with police records from the New Haven police department. The goals of the research are to (1) identify risk factors for crime victimization in this cohort of community dwelling older adults; (2) estimate the independent contribution of crime victimization to nursing home placement in the cohort, and (3) estimate the independent contribution of crime victimization to all-cause mortality in the cohort.
The results of this project will not only help to inform policies aimed at preventing crime victimization against older adults, but also will help develop strategies that avert or forestall functional physical and emotional decline as a result of victimization.
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Updated 05/20/2006