Designing The Future Internet

 Credit: Shutterstock/monicaodo

Rutgers’ Dipankar Raychaudhuri in the forefront of creating a mobile-friendly internet that can handle billions of devices and smart gadgets

The Internet of Things includes smart objects like fitness monitors, smart watches, smartphones and home thermostats.

Newswise, October 24, 2016 — This century, our world will be flooded with hundreds of billions of smartphones, gadgets, sensors and other smart objects connected to the internet.

 They will perform myriad services, such as monitoring our health, helping run households and boosting driver safety. At Rutgers, Dipankar “Ray” Raychaudhuri is at the forefront of efforts to redesign the internet to handle the enormous increase in traffic.

“The traffic that comes from mobile devices into the internet has been increasing exponentially. It used to be 10 percent five years ago – now it’s over 50 percent,” said Raychaudhuri, a distinguished professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the School of Engineeringand director of the WINLAB (Wireless Information Network Lab).

“As a result, mobile wireless capacity is beginning to run out,” he said.

“That’s why cellular operators have to give you data limits. When you try to use a mobile phone and you’re downloading a web page, it stalls unexpectedly at times and you have to wait for the signal to improve. Also, there are all kinds of holes in the security system that need to be fixed.”

In 2010, the National Science Foundation (NSF) launched a Future Internet Architecture initiative and invited academics to take a fresh look at the internet. Raychaudhuri and colleagues proposed a“MobilityFirst” project aimed at reimagining the Internet, winning major NSF funding.

The MobilityFirst project, now in its sixth year, includes experts at Rutgers, the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Duke University, University of Michigan, University of Wisconsin-Madison and University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

The NSF provided $3.275 million to Rutgers from 2010 to 2014 and $2.9 million since 2014, said Raychaudhuri, the project’s principal investigator.

“The internet has a lot of duct tape on it,” he said. “It works very well, but it has some limitations, especially when you try to do more mobile communications. How to re-architect the internet is a very ambitious goal.”

The MobilityFirst project is centered on shifting from the current internet protocol (IP) – an elegant, address-based routing technology designed in the 1970s – to name-based routing, he said.

An IP address is a unique number for an internet device, according to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which allocates the numbers used to route internet traffic to devices.

MobilityFirst’s name-based approach would be a fundamental change. Names would represent people, mobile phones, internet devices, small sensors or any other objects connected to the internet, said Raychaudhuri, a native of India who received his master’s and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering from the State University of New York, Stony Brook.

The benefits of MobilityFirst include more flexible services, better security, support for mobility across many technologies, efficiency and the ability to handle large volumes of traffic and data.

“We are not expecting to rip out the old internet,” Raychaudhuri said. “The internet has a lot of nice properties that we don’t want to lose.

“But one of the challenges for today’s internet is that with all these different modes of communication, some of them such as mobility services, broadcasting or content delivery are not handled very efficiently, and this could lead to flooding the network with too much data.”

The different modes of communication include the “Internet of Things” – a swiftly flowering field featuring smart objects, such as fitness monitors and smart watches, home thermostats and lighting, smartphones and devices with sensors.

Smart objects are expected to become pervasive in society, managing energy use in homes, monitoring food consumption, diagnosing health problems, monitoring cybersecurity and making driving safer, among other benefits.

Some 50 billion smart objects are anticipated by 2020, and 1 trillion sensors soon thereafter, according to the NSF.

“The Internet of Things has a lot of potential, but it needs fast and low delay networks that can ensure that data are received in time,” Raychaudhuri said.

“A lot of people are working on how to make cellular networks faster – so-called '5G' – and more functional, and many of the goals are similar to what we have in the MobilityFirst project.”

Three MobilityFirst trials are underway or planned, including one with SES, a satellite services company with a Princeton office. SES is using the MobilityFirst system to deliver content closer to its users, reducing the cost and improving user experience.

The second trial – with the University of Wisconsin-Madison – will show how an internet service provider’s circuits can be extended to offer mobile service.

The third trial, led by the University of Massachusetts-Amherst in Texas, will look into how to do targeted emergency messaging in a disaster-recovery scenario, such as following a terrorism incident or a major hurricane like Katrina in 2005.

The Internet of Things also covers virtual reality and augmented reality, with people wearing special glasses that, for example, provide directions as they walk or show the stores in a shopping center, said Raychaudhuri, who joined Rutgers in 2001 after working at a startup company called Iospan Wireless in Silicon Valley, as well as the NEC USA C&C Research Laboratory and Sarnoff/ RCA Laboratories, both in Princeton, New Jersey.

Plan Ahead For Successful Agin

Newswise, October 24, 2016— For many people, the prospect of aging is scary and uncomfortable, but Florida State University Assistant Professor Dawn Carr says that research reveals a few tips that can improve our chances of a long, healthy life.

Carr, who joined FSU’s Department of Sociology and the Pepper Institute on Aging and Social Policy this fall, is working to identify social programs and policy solutions that improve and maintain quality of life as people age.

“The ultimate goal is to set people up for having a good life for as long as possible in ways that are meaningful and productive,” she said.

As a gerontologist, Carr studies the biological, cognitive and social processes involved in aging and the ways that societies construct systems to accommodate aging populations.

 Carr’s specialization in social gerontology means she pays particular attention to the idea of “successful aging,” or the ways that people can continue to lead fulfilling, emotionally satisfying lives as they get older.

Fundamental to understanding aging from the perspective of a social gerontologist is the important distinction between “successful aging” and pop cultural or cosmetic ideas about “anti-aging.”

“Anti-aging is a movement that views youth as the best state of being,” Carr said. “It’s focused on the idea that good agers are those who look, act and seem young.”

Conversely, the idea of successful aging is based on the notion that getting older can be a healthy and positive process — that it can yield its own unique experiences and outlooks.

Proponents of successful aging ideas argue that, with adequate and deliberate preparation, late-adulthood can be a time of increased self-actualization.

Carr, who previously served as a research associate at Stanford’s Center on Longevity, has published extensively on the subject of successful aging.

“What my research has done is to try and understand the shifts in the way we live as we get older,” Carr said.

“What I’m trying to understand is what we can do to keep health and cognitive performance up for as long as possible.”

Carr shared a few basic tips for becoming a successful ager.

Get a College Degree

There is no more crucial variable in the formula of successful aging than education. Research has repeatedly demonstrated the indispensible value of meaningful educational experiences, and especially of attaining a college degree.

“Education has been the biggest predictor of aging outcomes for a very long time,” Carr said.

“You just can’t hold a candle to number of years of education and its relationship to any outcome related to aging. It’s hard for me to ever imagine that education wouldn’t be beneficial to health, well-being and aging well.”

Eat Healthy

Eating well can have significant, measurable effects on aging outcomes. It’s important to find a healthy diet that works for your individual lifestyle.

“There are a lot of diets that work well, but none of them involve eating a ton of fast food,” Carr said. “It’s important to use nutrition in a way that doesn’t result in bad outcomes like heart disease and diabetes, but that can vary from person to person.”

Exercise

There is no substitute for a consistent exercise regimen.

“Exercise is crucial over the long term,” she said. “You can start at anytime throughout your life but it’s important to continue as much as possible. There’s no evidence that you can do too much, and exercise seems to be one of the few things that, for the average person with normal brain matter, keeps cognitive performance up later in life.”

Stay Socially Connected

Quality of social connection is one of the most reliable predictors of well-being in older individuals. This is particularly vital for older men, who tend to have a more difficult time forging important relationships as they age.

“Social connectedness is the thing that people probably pay the least attention to,” Carr said.

“Maintaining meaningful engagement with others through the duration of your life is crucial, and men aren’t so good at it, which is a problem.

”For example, research shows that older men who are married tend to do better than those who aren’t, so we know there’s something important in having close connections later in life.

“The thing is, it’s hard to have someone close to you later in life if you’ve never spent any time cultivating meaningful relationships with others.”

Carr recommends joining formal community groups as a way of ensuring sustained connection as we age.

“Embedding yourself in formal organizations like church, volunteer programs or book clubs can be a great way to cultivate relationships,” she said.

Plan Financially

It’s never too early to begin making financial arrangements for later life. While structures of economic inequality often make it difficult for some to plan in the long term, the prudent choice is always to begin considering your late-life finances as soon as possible.

“Being poor in later life is not good for your health,” Carr said.

“A lot of people don’t have control over that, which is a huge deal. But one thing we know to be true is that if you have a sufficient income, that’s pretty critical in improving outcomes. You have a lot working against you if you don’t have the money to maintain your well-being over time.” 

EPIGENETIC CLOCK PREDICTS LIFE EXPECTANCY

UCLA-led study shows 5 percent of population ages faster, faces shorter lifespan

The rate of your biological clock influences how long you'll live.

Why do some people lead a perfectly healthy lifestyle yet still die young? A new international study suggests that the answer lies in our DNA.

Newswise, October 3, 2016 — UCLA geneticist Steve Horvath led a team of 65 scientists in seven countries to record age-related changes to human DNA, calculate biological age and estimate a person’s lifespan. A higher biological age—regardless of chronological age—consistently predicted an earlier death.

The findings are published in today’s edition of the journal Aging.

“Our research reveals valuable clues into what causes human aging, marking a first step toward developing targeted methods to slow the process,” said principal investigator Horvath, a professor of human genetics and biostatistics at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine and Fielding School of Public Health.

Drawing on 13 sets of data, including the landmark Framingham Heart Study and Women’s Health Initiative, a consortium of 25 institutions analyzed the DNA in blood samples collected from more than 13,000 people in the United States and Europe.

Applying a variety of molecular methods, including an epigenetic clock developed by Horvath in 2013, the scientists measured the aging rates of each individual.

The clock calculates the aging of blood and other tissues by tracking methylation, a natural process that chemically alters DNA over time. By comparing chronological age to the blood’s biological age, the scientists used the clock to predict each person’s life expectancy.

“We were stunned to see that the epigenetic clock was able to predict the lifespans of Caucasians, Hispanics and African-Americans,” said first author Brian Chen, a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institute on Aging.

“This rang true even after adjusting for traditional risk factors like age, gender, smoking, body-mass index, disease history and blood cell counts.”

The group’s findings, however, don’t bode well for everyone.

“We discovered that 5 percent of the population ages at a faster biological rate, resulting in a shorter life expectancy,” Horvath said. “Accelerated aging increases these adults’ risk of death by 50 percent at any age.”

For example, two 60-year-old men, Peter and Joe, both smoke to deal with high stress. Peter’s epigenetic aging rate ranks in the top 5 percent, while Joe’s aging rate is average. The likelihood of Peter dying within the next 10 years is 75 percent compared to 60 percent for Joe.

The preliminary finding may explain why some individuals die young – even when they follow a nutritious diet, exercise regularly, drink in moderation and don’t smoke. 

“While a healthful lifestyle may help extend life expectancy, our innate aging process prevents us from cheating death forever,” Horvath emphasized. “Yet risk factors like smoking, diabetes and high blood pressure still predict mortality more strongly than one’s epigenetic aging rate.”

Scientists have long searched to identify biomarkers for biological age, according to coauthor Dr. Douglas Kiel, a professor at Harvard Medical School and a senior scientist for the Institute of Aging Research at Hebrew SeniorLife.

“In geriatric medicine, we are always struck by the difference between our patients’ chronological age and how old they appear physiologically,” said Kiel.

“This study validates the use of DNA methylation as a biomarker for biological age. And if we can prove that DNA methylation accelerates aging, we can devise strategies to slow the rate and maximize a person’s years of good health.”

The precise role of epigenetic changes in aging and death, however, remains unknown, said coauthor Dr. Themistocles Assimes, an assistant professor of cardiovascular medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine.

“Do the epigenetic changes associated with chronological aging directly cause death in older people?” said Assimes.

“Perhaps they merely enhance the development of certain diseases--or cripple one’s ability to resist the progression of disease after it has taken root. Future research is needed to address these questions.”

Larger studies focused only on cases with well-documented causes of death will help scientists tease out the relationship between epigenetic age and specific diseases, he added.

By 2017, according to the World Health Organization, the number of people worldwide over age 65 will outnumber those under age 5 for the first time in recorded history.

By 2050, the proportion of the global population over 60 will double from 11 to 22 percent. Many countries will be ill-prepared to keep pace with the high costs associated with disease and disability as more people live longer, said Horvath.

“We must find interventions that prolong healthy living by five to 20 years. We don’t have time, however, to follow a person for decades to test whether a new drug works.” said Horvath. “The epigenetic clock would allow scientists to quickly evaluate the effect of anti-aging therapies in only three years.”

The University of California has applied for a provisional patent on the epigenetic clock.

Getting America Moving Again! How to Get This Country Moving

Multisector, collaborative effort needed to combat physical inactivity

Newswise, August 2, 2016 — Greater efforts should be made to actively monitor physical activity as a risk factor in clinical practice, finds a new study from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.

The paper “Scaling up Physical Activity Interventions Worldwide: Stepping up to Larger and Smarter Approaches to Get People Moving,” is part of a four-paper series published in The Lancet, which shows, among other findings, that physical inactivity costs the global economy more than $67.5 billion a year in health care costs and lost productivity.

Increasing levels of physical activity will require collaboration between schools, urban planning, transport, sports and recreation and the environmental sectors, finds the paper.

“Not every intervention implemented at scale is effective in increasing population physical activity levels, and not every effective, research-led intervention is scalable,” said Rodrigo Reis, professor at the Brown School and co-author of the study.

“We found that the key factors for scaling-up physical activity interventions are drawn from lessons from both evidence-based practice and practice based-evidence,” Reis said.

“The key factors include partnerships outside the health sector, early institutionalization and long-term political support of effective interventions.”

Reis and his co-authors pointed to several successful examples, such as the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) System introduced in Curitiba, Brazil; Bogota, Colombia; and Cambridge, United Kingdom, which puts stops further apart than traditional bus stops to encourage walking; and the Coordinated Approach to Child Health (CATCH) in the United States, which promotes a healthy school environment including physical activity, food, nutrition and sun protection.

“The scientific community, researchers, funding agencies and journals should prioritize studies for assessing impact of real-world interventions,” Reis said.

“And governments should focus on scaling-up interventions with the highest face validity, promote multisector approaches and provide long-term tangible support.”

Driving, Dementia – Assessing Safe Driving in High-Risk Older Adults

Newswise, July 8, 2016 — Driving is possibly one of the most complex procedures humans engage in on a regular basis. Operating a motor vehicle involves a wide range of cognitive processes that require the ability to judge distances, manage multiple stimuli simultaneously, react quickly in an emergency, maintain attention for long periods of time, and correctly interpret traffic signs and signals.

Today, almost half of all drivers on the roadways are over the age of 65 and this number is projected to increase to 77 percent in the next 30 years. Adults over the age of 65 have the highest crash rate per mile compared to any other age group, and older driver fatalities are highest in Florida, California and Texas.

Driving also requires physical skills that are affected by age-related changes like deteriorating vision, decreasing hearing, and diminishing motor reflexes, coordination, and strength as well as effects from medications used for a number of conditions.

Older adult drivers are frequently aware of these physical changes and do take precautions. But what about older adult drivers with declining cognition who can’t make this determination on their own?

With the decline of cognitive processes in older adults due to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other forms of dementia, there is heightened concern for public safety and unsafe driving in this population.

A researcher in the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing at Florida Atlantic University and a collaborator have just published an article in the journal Public Health Nursing that sheds light on the cognitive factors that inhibit effective driving as well as recognizing older adults who may be at risk for unsafe driving.

“It is important to note that it’s not a person’s chronological age itself that puts the older driver at increased risk for driving accidents, but rather the changes in functionality and skills needed for safe driving,” said Lisa Kirk Wiese, Ph.D., first author and an assistant professor in FAU’s Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing.

Memory plays a significant role in driving competence. At a basic level, memory provides drivers with the knowledge of how to operate a motor vehicle; turning the key in the ignition, shifting gears, and distinguishing the brake from the gas pedal.

Drivers also need to remember their destination so that they don’t get lost. Studies have shown that there is a 62 percent increase in errors among individuals with AD, most notably in the attention skills of driving straight and in making left-hand turns.

They also have pathological changes in visual processing areas, which significantly impacts visual processing, and consequently, driving performance.

“Drivers with dementia and even their caregivers may lack the insight needed to limit and eventually discontinue driving,” said Wiese.

“They might say something along the lines of ‘I have never had an accident,’ which is then confirmed by their loved one, and both are in denial that they could be an unsafe driver.”

Wiese and co-author Logan Wolff, in the College of Psychology at Nova Southeastern University, note that self-rated methods for older drivers at risk are not effective because they may be overconfident and lack insight into their perceived versus actual driving abilities.

The authors suggest a three-pronged approach to testing for safety in older adult drivers, which include a patient assessment and medication review; a computerized simulation using a touch screen interface, and a road test with a certified road test examiner.

“The task of identifying and helping older adults who are unaware of decline in cognition impacting road safety can be overwhelming for family members, “said Wiese.

“Nurses who care for older adults in public health settings can play a vital role in understanding and identifying the cognitive mechanisms that inhibit effective driving and help to identify older adults who may be at risk for unsafe driving, and who would benefit from a driving evaluation.”

FAU’s Louis and Anne Green Memory and Wellness Center operated by the College of Nursing provides a comprehensive driving evaluation that includes tests of vision, physical functioning and cognitive skills required for safe driving.

In addition, an on-road test in a dual-controlled vehicle is given, which was developed for the purpose of detecting driving errors made by cognitively impaired drivers. At the conclusion of the testing session, results and recommendations are provided, and if needed, options for alternative transportation and supportive services are discussed at length.

“Our driving evaluation program is one of several comprehensive services we provide to individuals with memory disorders and their families,” said María Ordóñez, DNP, ARNP, GNP-BC, director of the Louis and Anne Green Memory and Wellness Center and an assistant professor in FAU’s College of Nursing.

“We are committed to helping our clients function at their personal best to maximize their quality of life and to respond to their unique needs with caring, expertise, and compassion.”

FAU’s College of Nursing is internationally known for its commitment to nursing as a discipline focused on nurturing the wholeness of persons and the environment through Caring. The College advances Caring knowledge through education, practice, research and scholarship to transform care locally, nationally and globally. Currently, the College of Nursing offers bachelor’s, master’s, DNP and Ph.D. degree programs with approximately 1,600 nursing students enrolled in its programs. For more information, visit www.nursing.fau.edu. 

Despite Increasing Global Legalization of Physician-Assisted Suicide, Use Remains Rare, Penn Study Finds

Support for Euthanasia or Physician-Assisted Suicide Has Plateaued in the U.S., but Continues to Increase in Western Europe

Newswise, July 8, 2016 – Despite increasing legalization of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide (PAS) worldwide, the practice remains relatively rare and, when carried out, is primarily motivated by psychological factors such as loss of autonomy or enjoyment of life, rather than physical pain.

A new comprehensive assessment of data from around the world shows that in areas where they are legal, only 0.3 to 4.6 percent of deaths result from euthanasia or PAS, with more than 70 percent of cases involving patients with cancer.

The study also shows that the majority of patients requesting euthanasia or PAS are older, white and well-educated. The study, led by Ezekiel J. Emanuel, MD, PhD, chair of the department of Medical Ethics & Health Policy at thePerelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, is published today in JAMA.

“There are perceptions that euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide are widespread regardless of its legal status, that it’s quick and painless, and flawless. But, the best data we have on these issues is about15 years old,” Emanuel said.

“In the United States, there’s been an increase in legalization since Oregon legalized PAS, and several other states are considering passing legislation that would make these practices legal, but we don’t currently have a comprehensive understanding of the practices themselves, or how the public and health care providers view them. We need more data before turning to these practices as a solution for end-of-life care.”

Euthanasia – where a physician actively and intentionally ends a patient’s life by medical means such as an injection of a neuro-muscular relaxant – and PAS – which occurs when lethal drugs are prescribed or supplied by a physician but are self-administered by the patient – can be legally practiced in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Colombia and Canada. PAS, excluding euthanasia, is legal in Switzerland and five US states: Oregon, Washington, Montana, Vermont and California.

Using data from 1947-2016 collected from polls, published surveys of the public and physicians, official state and country databases, interviews with physicians, and death certificates, the team sought to determine how legalization affects attitudes and practices of euthanasia and PAS, as well as prevalence and outcomes of the procedures.

Results of the analysis showed that in the U.S., support for euthanasia and PAS increased from 37 percent in 1947 to 53 percent in the early 1970s.

Support continued to increase in the following decades, eventually reaching a plateau in 1990, with roughly 66 percent of the U.S. population supporting one of the practices.

Support in the United States saw a resurgence in the early 2000s, but has declined in recent years, dropping from a peak of 75 percent in 2005 to 64 percent in 2012.

Comparatively, in Europe there has been no plateau of public support for euthanasia and PAS. Between 1999 and 2008, support for euthanasia increased in most Western European countries, while most countries in Central and Eastern Europe saw a decline in support.

The authors say the data suggest there may be a correlation between attitudes toward the practices and religious views.

“In the United States, several characteristics were consistently associated with favoring or opposing the practices. In general, people who were supportive were white, male, younger, and religiously unaffiliated,” Emanuel said.

“We also noticed a similar trend in Europe, where support in Western Europe increased as rates of religiosity decreased, while simultaneously, support in the post-communist Eastern European countries decreased as religiosity increased.

Investigators also examined the implications of legalizing euthanasia and PAS. Specifically, the team sought to determine the circumstances under which patients most frequently request euthanasia or PAS, the prevalence of complications, and the likelihood that where legal, the procedures would become standard practice rather than being used only in extreme cases.

Analysis revealed that in U.S. jurisdictions where the practices are legal, less than 20 percent of physicians report receiving requests for euthanasia or PSA, and less than five percent have complied. In Oregon and Washington state, less than one percent of licensed physicians write prescriptions for PAS, and in the vast majority of cases, patients are already or had previously received hospice care.

Belgium and the Netherlands also report a positive association between euthanasia and receiving or consulting with palliative care teams or pain specialists.

Of note, the authors found no data on complication rates from any country other than the United States and the Netherlands. And in those cases, reports were largely incomplete.

For example, between 1998 and 2015, more than 40 percent of PAS cases in Oregon were missing complication data. Of the data that was available from Oregon and Washington state, complications reported included prolonged death (those taking longer than one day), regurgitation of medication, and seizures.

“What data we have strongly suggests that the dominant motivations for requesting euthanasia or PAS are loss of autonomy and dignity, the inability to enjoy life and regular activities, or other mental illnesses, rather than physical pain,” Emanuel said.

“However, given the incomplete and outdated information available about the practices of assisted dying, collecting reliable data to evaluate end-of-life practices should be prioritized around the world, not just in countries legalizing euthanasia or PAS.”

The authors suggest future studies should examine three areas: the true frequency of PAS cases and how the outcomes of reported versus unreported cases differ, rates of requests and practices of euthanasia and PAS, and complications, including how many patients wake up after ingesting the prescribed medications.

In countries where the practices are legal, the authors say more rigorous retrospective research is needed to determine reasons for the requests, complications, and familial and social situations of the deceased.

Social Security Benefits Lose 23% of Buying Power Since 2000

June 17, 2016--Social Security beneficiaries have lost 23 percent of their buying power since 2000, according to the 2016 Survey of Senior Costs released today by The Senior Citizens League (TSCL).

The findings indicate that except for higher medical and prescription drug costs, overall prices have changed relatively little over the past year. Inflation remains very low, almost nil, mainly due to the dramatic drop in oil prices. “TSCL is concerned,” says TSCL Chairman Ed Cates.

“There appears to be a high risk of either an extremely low annual cost - of - living adjustment (COLA) next year, or worse — none at all,” he says.

Older Americans and disabled Social Security beneficiaries received no cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) in 2016 due to low inflation last year, but TSCL’s new survey found that lower inflation didn’t translate into lower household expenses in 2015.

In fact, nearly 1,200 survey respondents recently said that monthly household expenses made steep increases in 2015. The majority, 72%, indicated their monthly expenses went up by more than $79. “With today’s Social Security benefit averaging $1,230 per month, that’s an unsustainable level when there’s no benefit increase to match,” Cates says.

In most years, Social Security beneficiaries receive a small increase in their Social Security checks, intended to help them keep up with rising costs. But since 2000, the COLAs rose a total of just 36.3 percentage points while typical senior expenses have jumped 75.3 percent.

“Going without any COLA in 2016 has long-term consequences for retirees when real costs continue to climb,” Cates says. “People must spend down retirement savings more quickly than expected, and those without savings are either going into debt, or going without,” he says.

A person with average Social Security benefits in 2000 received $816 per month, a figure that rose to $1,166.30 by 2016. However, according to the survey, that individual would require a Social Security benefit of $1,430.50 per month in 2016 just to maintain his or her 2000 buying power, the study found.

The study examined the increase in costs of 38 key items between 2000 and January 2016. The items were chosen because they are typical of the costs that most Social Security recipients must bear. Of the 38 costs analyzed, 29 exceeded the amount of increase in the COLA over the same period. The selected items represent eight categories, weighted by approximate expenditure.

“This study illustrates why Congress should enact legislation to provide an emergency COLA this year,” says Cates. “To put it in perspective, for every $100 worth of expenses seniors could afford in 2000, they can afford just $77.00 today,” Cates adds.

A majority of the 57 million senior and disabled Americans who receive Social Security depend on it for at least 50 percent of their total income, and one in four beneficiaries relies on it for 90 percent or more of his or her total income.

To help protect buying power of benefits, TSCL supports legislation that would base COLAs on the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly. TSCL and its members are lobbying Congress for an emergency COLA for 2016. To learn more, visit http://www.SeniorsLeague.org.

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With 1.2 million supporters, The Senior Citizens League is one of the nation’s largest nonpartisan seniors groups. Its mission is to promote and assist members and supporters, to educate and alert senior citizens about their rights and freedoms as U.S. Citizens, and to protect and defend the benefits senior citizens have earned and paid for. The Senior Citizens League is a proud affiliate of The Retired Enlisted Association. Visit http://www.SeniorsLeague.org for more information.