# Boston Early Adversity and Mortality Study (BEAMS): Linking administrative data to long-term longitudinal studies

> **NIH NIH RF1** · NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $217,846

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Adverse childhood experiences, such as poverty, psychosocial stressors, and environmental hazards, have
been consistently linked to poor adult health. Despite the public health significance of such early adversity, the
processes by which the “long arm of childhood” brings about morbidity and mortality in later life remain largely
unknown. Scientific progress in this area has been severely handicapped by two limitations intrinsic to nearly
all longitudinal studies of aging: (1) reliance on retrospective assessments of early conditions, and (2)
inadequate “lifespan data” on the intervening processes between childhood and old age. The Boston Early
Adversity and Mortality Study (BEAMS) will tackle the limitation of retrospective data by using high-quality
administrative record linkage. In Aim 1, we link contemporaneous information on early-life health, family, and
environmental hazards from multiple databases (including recently digitalized vital and census records,
hospital and military records, public data on water- and air-borne lead exposure) to longitudinal data collected
on three cohorts of men who have been assessed repeatedly since 1938 (N=724) or 1961 (N=2280) in the
greater Boston area. We extend linkage to siblings of the cohorts to include women and allow within-family
comparisons. As the cohorts are 74%-94% deceased, record linkage will create an exceptionally rich, cradle-
to-death dataset. In Aim 1, we test the hypothesis that early adversities in the psychosocial (e.g., cold or
chaotic family environment), socioeconomic (e.g., impoverished neighborhood), and environmental (e.g., lead
exposure) domains have independent and additive effects on poor health in older men and women. To address
the second limitation noted above, Aim 2 bridges the knowledge gap on processes which transmit the effects
of early adversity onto three age-related outcomes: cardiometabolic disease, dementia onset, and all-cause
mortality. Leveraging the cradle-to-grave data on these cohorts, we test mediational hypotheses regarding
deficiency of socioeconomic (low SES) and psychosocial resources (low social support, extraversion, and
conscientiousness), and limited cognitive reserve as candidate pathways. We will examine these mediators as
age-specific levels and long-term trajectories in adulthood. We will use a coordinated data analytic approach to
inform the replicability and generalizability of findings across the 3 socioeconomically-graded cohorts.
Completion of these aims will advance state-of-the-art methods and causal knowledge on how multiple
dimensions of early conditions affect lifespan health. Findings are expected to inform policy and intervention
efforts targeting the upstream determinants of early adversity, and ultimately prolong the span of good health.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10213519
- **Project number:** 3RF1AG064006-01S1
- **Recipient organization:** NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Lewina Onyi Lee
- **Activity code:** RF1 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $217,846
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2019-08-01 → 2024-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10213519

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10213519, Boston Early Adversity and Mortality Study (BEAMS): Linking administrative data to long-term longitudinal studies (3RF1AG064006-01S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-27 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10213519. Licensed CC0.

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