--- title: "Health and Retirement Study (HRS)" id: "3353" type: "study" slug: "sa000021" published_at: "2022-01-26T19:19:39+00:00" modified_at: "2026-04-03T16:55:53+00:00" url: "https://dss.niagads.org/studies/sa000021/" markdown_url: "https://dss.niagads.org/studies/sa000021.md" excerpt: "Since 1992, the Health and Retirement Study (HRS, a cooperative agreement between the National Institute on Aging (NIA) and the University of Michigan, NIA U01AG009740) has been the largest, representative longitudinal study of Americans over age 50. Built on a..." --- ## Description Since 1992, the Health and Retirement Study (HRS, a cooperative agreement between the National Institute on Aging (NIA) and the University of Michigan, NIA U01AG009740) has been the largest, representative longitudinal study of Americans over age 50. Built on a national probability sample with oversamples of minorities, it is the model for a network of harmonized international longitudinal studies of work, health, social, psychological, family and economic status through critical life transitions and trajectories related to retirement, economic security, health and function, social and behavioral function and support systems. Core interviews take place every two years and are supplemented by mail surveys, biomarker collections, administrative linkages, and other sources. The HRS study is a cohort study and is nationally-representative of US residents over the age of 50 and their spouse/partners. Measurement of cognition has been part of the core HRS survey since the beginning in 1992. In addition, two separate supplemental studies provide in depth cognition measurement. HRS is also linked to CMS data for claims-based diagnoses. See: [https://hrs.isr.umich.edu/data-products/cognition-data](https://hrs.isr.umich.edu/data-products/cognition-data) and [https://hrs.isr.umich.edu/data-products/restricted-data/cms-data](https://hrs.isr.umich.edu/data-products/restricted-data/cms-data) From the beginning, a key element of the HRS sample design has been oversampling of African American and Hispanic populations in each new cohort to serve the important goal of supporting racial and ethnic disparities research (Jackson, Lockery, & Juster, 1996). Ofstedal and Weir (2011) demonstrated that HRS has been successful in both recruiting and retaining African American and Hispanic populations. Building on this success, HRS implemented additional screening in the 2010 and 2016 cohort enrollments to expand the number of minority participants, with similar plans for 2022 underway. The current active sample of approximately 22,500 includes approximately 4,700 African-American and 2,600 Hispanic participants. With the addition of data from the Harmonized Cognitive Assessment Protocol (HCAP), HRS is now also a major resource for studying racial and ethnic disparities in Alzheimer’s Disease and Alzheimer’s Related Dementias (AD/ADRD). HCAP was specifically designed to enable epidemiological research on variation in the incidence, prevalence, and impact of AD and related dementias (Langa et al., 2019). ## PI David R. Weir ## Associated Datasets - [NG00119 - Health and Retirement Study Genotype Data 2006-2012](https://dss.niagads.org/datasets/ng00119/) These data include a total of 18,916 subjects from the Health and Retirement Study genotyped on Illumina HumanOmni2.5-arrays. Data files also include imputed data using the 1000 Genomes and the… [Learn more](https://dss.niagads.org/datasets/ng00119/) - [NG00132 - Health and Retirement Study (HRS) APOE and Serotonin Transporter Alleles](https://dss.niagads.org/datasets/ng00132/) The APOE and Serotonin Transporter Alleles data product includes data for the APOE isoform, directly genotyped using a TaqMan allelic discrimination SNP assay, where available, or imputed from preexisting genotype… [Learn more](https://dss.niagads.org/datasets/ng00132/) - [NG00153 - Health and Retirement Study (HRS) DNA Methylation](https://dss.niagads.org/datasets/ng00153/) DNA methylation assays were conducted on a non-random subsample (n=4,104) of participants who participated in the 2016 Venous Blood Study. The sample includes all the participants of the 2016 Healthy… [Learn more](https://dss.niagads.org/datasets/ng00153/) ## Associated Sample Sets - [snd10055 - Health and Retirement Study (HRS) DNA Methylation](https://dss.niagads.org/sample-sets/snd10055/) Since 1992, the Health and Retirement Study (HRS, a cooperative agreement between the National Institute on Aging (NIA) and the University of Michigan, NIA U01AG009740) has been the largest, representative… [Learn more](https://dss.niagads.org/sample-sets/snd10055/) ## Cohorts - [Health and Retirement Study (HRS)](https://dss.niagads.org/cohorts/health-and-retirement-study-hrs/) The HRS is a nationally representative sample with oversamples of African-American and Hispanic populations. The target population for the original HRS cohort includes all adults in the contiguous United States… [Learn more](https://dss.niagads.org/cohorts/health-and-retirement-study-hrs/) ## Grants NIA U01AG009740, RC2 AG036495, and RC4 AG039029 ## Acknowledgement ### Acknowledgment statement for any data distributed by NIAGADS: Data for this study were prepared, archived, and distributed by the National Institute on Aging Alzheimer's Disease Data Storage Site (NIAGADS) at the University of Pennsylvania (U24-AG041689), funded by the National Institute on Aging. ### For investigators using Health and Retirement Study data: HRS is supported by the National Institute on Aging (NIA U01AG009740). The genotyping was partially funded by separate awards from NIA (RC2 AG036495 and RC4 AG039029). Our genotyping was conducted by the NIH Center for Inherited Disease Research (CIDR) at Johns Hopkins University. Genotyping quality control and final preparation were performed by the Genetics Coordinating Center at University of Washington (Phases 1-3) and the University of Michigan (Phase 4). ## Publications - Sonnega A. **Cohort Profile: the Health and Retirement Study (HRS).***International journal of epidemiology. 2014 Apr.*[PubMed link](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24671021/) - Juster F. Thomas. **An Overview of the Health and Retirement Study***The Journal of Human Resources. 1995.*[DOI link](https://doi.org/10.2307/146277) See the HRS online Bibliography:[https://hrs.isr.umich.edu/publications/biblio/](https://hrs.isr.umich.edu/publications/biblio/)