The National Institute on Aging (NIA), one of the 25 institutes and centers of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), leads a broad scientific effort to understand the nature of aging and to extend the healthy, active years of life. This effort has rapidly expanded knowledge about the biological, behavioral, and social changes that occur with advancing age and has disproved stereotypes of inevitable decline as people grow older. Recent findings have revealed dramatic and unexpected reductions in rates of disability among older persons compared to projected levels. Millions of Americans are leading healthier lives based, in part, on discoveries from aging research.
Since the beginning of the 20th century, life expectancy at birth in the U.S. has increased from less than 50 years to more than 76 years. The challenge for the 21st century will be to make these added years as healthy and productive as possible and to maintain the current trend of decline in disability. There is no time to lose in discovering how to age well. From 1960 to 2000 there was an approximate doubling of numbers of people aged 65 and older. It is further projected that by the year 2030, the number of individuals age 65 and older will double again to reach 70.3 million, constituting 20% of the population. Dramatic growth is also projected in the numbers of Americans aged 85 and older, from 4.3 million (1.6%) in 2000, to 19.4 million (4.8%) in 2050-placing a significantly greater number of people at risk for disease and disability. It is urgent to develop more effective treatments for age-related diseases and to prevent or delay the onset of disease and disability among older persons. Evidence shows that health research is making progress toward both these goals.
NIA Mission
In 1974, Congress granted authority to form the National Institute on Aging to provide leadership in aging research, training, health information dissemination, and other programs relevant to aging and older people. Subsequent amendments to this legislation designated the NIA as the primary federal agency on Alzheimer's disease (AD) research. The NIA's mission is to improve the health and well-being of older Americans through research, and specifically to:
- Support and conduct high quality research on:
- aging processes
- age-related diseases
- special problems and needs of the aged
- Train and develop highly skilled research scientists from all population groups
- Develop and maintain state-of-the-art resources to accelerate research progress
- Disseminate information and communicate with the public and interested groups on health and research advances and on new directions for research.
NIA Funding and Collaborations
The NIA has fostered progress in aging research for over 25 years. In fiscal year 2000, the NIA funded basic and clinical scientists through an estimated 1,400 research grants and 55 research contracts to universities and other research centers, supporting investigators throughout the U.S. and in selected international locations. Investigators also apply for training grants and individual fellowships. The NIA now provides support to approximately 526 scientists-in-training and to senior investigators who are learning new disciplines in aging research. The Institute also supports a broad range of research by NIA scientists in its own (intramural) laboratories. Distribution of funds for these activities is shown here.
The NIA collaborates with every major NIH component and leads research efforts that span several federal agencies. The NIA is the lead federal agency for research on Alzheimer's disease and aging demography. In this capacity, the NIA chairs the NIH Inter-Institute Alzheimer's Disease Working Group to promote research development, coordination of funding, information dissemination, and other matters of common interest. The NIA also chairs the Interagency Ad Hoc Committee on Research on Aging and the Interagency Forum on Aging Related Statistics. In addition to areas in which NIA has lead responsibility, many of the diseases and concerns that affect the health of older people are the primary responsibility of other NIH institutes and centers. In these cases, the NIA collaborates with these organizations to advance knowledge of aging and leverage resources. Other collaborations involve research on cardiovascular disease, cancer, neurologic diseases, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, diabetes, AIDS, behavior and health, and alternative medicine.
NIA Research Planning
The NIA maintains a year-round scientific planning process that draws upon interactions with scientists throughout the world, members of Congress, the Institute's National Advisory Council on Aging (NACA) and other advisory committees, constituency groups, and the public. These interactions stimulate internal consideration of potential new research strategies and provide a broad perspective for refining plans. Emphasis is given to novel proposals and collaborative projects that promise to stimulate activities with other research organizations.
The NIA's strategic planning process focuses on a 5-year planning horizon. The most recent strategic plan, developed by the Task Force on Aging Research in 1995, produced a comprehensive research agenda through fiscal year 2000. The NIA's current strategic planning effort covers a 5-year time frame from fiscal years 2001 to 2005 and addresses goals for research, research training, research resources, and dissemination of health information. Members of the scientific community and the general public have been active in the plan's development.
