{"id":4726,"date":"2016-08-01T19:39:18","date_gmt":"2016-08-01T19:39:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/ap1x2-91\/?post_type=chapter&p=4726"},"modified":"2017-05-09T17:07:29","modified_gmt":"2017-05-09T17:07:29","slug":"methods-used-to-study-aging","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/atd-herkimer-biologyofaging\/chapter\/methods-used-to-study-aging\/","title":{"raw":"Methods Used to Study Aging","rendered":"Methods Used to Study Aging"},"content":{"raw":"In this course of study we will be focusing on human aging, but of course all living things have a life time.\u00a0 In order to study aging scientists often look to other forms of life, both animals and plants.\u00a0 The reason for this is simple, humans\u00a0along with\u00a0most mammals live too long!\r\n\r\nImagine being a scientist who is studying the aging of individual people.\u00a0 If you start studying a person at\u00a0his birth it is very likely your lifetime will end before his does.\u00a0\u00a0Of course groups of researchers have worked together to complete this type of research.\u00a0 An example of this is the Framingham Heart Study, which was begun in 1948 with 5209 men and women and continues today.\u00a0 This study has expanded to\u00a0include the children and grandchildren of the original participants and also to include additional participants to create a more diverse study group.\u00a0 While the researchers have had to be patient the study has greatly increased our understanding of cardiovascular disease.\u00a0 This research method is\u00a0referred to as longitudinal study<\/em>.\r\n\r\nCross-sectional studies<\/em> are more commonly used\u00a0to study\u00a0humans.\u00a0 These studies\u00a0compare a measureable parameter across different\u00a0groups of people.\u00a0 For example, a simple study could compare the average blood pressure of people between the ages of 20 and 30 to people between the ages of 40 and 50.\u00a0 This type of study can be done relative quickly and cheaply with large groups of people.\u00a0 This disadvantage is that is very difficult to differentiate age-related changes from the effects of numerous environmental and social factors.\r\n\r\nStill another type of study involves lower animals.\u00a0 In studies which use lower animals researchers can more easily control genetic variability, environmental factors, and social factors.\u00a0 These are huge advantageous to the scientific process, but of course we are primarily interested in human aging.\u00a0 Scientists must be careful not to extrapolate findings which may or may not be applicable to humans.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n ","rendered":"

In this course of study we will be focusing on human aging, but of course all living things have a life time.\u00a0 In order to study aging scientists often look to other forms of life, both animals and plants.\u00a0 The reason for this is simple, humans\u00a0along with\u00a0most mammals live too long!<\/p>\n

Imagine being a scientist who is studying the aging of individual people.\u00a0 If you start studying a person at\u00a0his birth it is very likely your lifetime will end before his does.\u00a0\u00a0Of course groups of researchers have worked together to complete this type of research.\u00a0 An example of this is the Framingham Heart Study, which was begun in 1948 with 5209 men and women and continues today.\u00a0 This study has expanded to\u00a0include the children and grandchildren of the original participants and also to include additional participants to create a more diverse study group.\u00a0 While the researchers have had to be patient the study has greatly increased our understanding of cardiovascular disease.\u00a0 This research method is\u00a0referred to as longitudinal study<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Cross-sectional studies<\/em> are more commonly used\u00a0to study\u00a0humans.\u00a0 These studies\u00a0compare a measureable parameter across different\u00a0groups of people.\u00a0 For example, a simple study could compare the average blood pressure of people between the ages of 20 and 30 to people between the ages of 40 and 50.\u00a0 This type of study can be done relative quickly and cheaply with large groups of people.\u00a0 This disadvantage is that is very difficult to differentiate age-related changes from the effects of numerous environmental and social factors.<\/p>\n

Still another type of study involves lower animals.\u00a0 In studies which use lower animals researchers can more easily control genetic variability, environmental factors, and social factors.\u00a0 These are huge advantageous to the scientific process, but of course we are primarily interested in human aging.\u00a0 Scientists must be careful not to extrapolate findings which may or may not be applicable to humans.<\/p>\n

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