Do you ever question if an age exclusion criterion is warranted for your study? The Inclusion Across the Lifespan Policy requires research supported by the NIH to include all individuals, regardless of age, unless there is a scientific or ethical reason not to.
The NIH recently released a resource that presents four case studies highlighting common situations that researchers may encounter when deciding on study age exclusion criterion. Below are a few key takeaways:
- Age should only be used as an exclusion criterion when necessary.
- Consider collecting other relevant parameters (e.g., medical history, height/weight) other than age to appropriately identify your study population.
- Convenience is not a justifiable reason for excluding individuals based on age.
- When “the knowledge being sought in the research is already available for the excluded age group, or will be obtained from another ongoing study, and an additional study will be redundant,” age-based exclusions may be justified. (See the NIH Inclusion Across the Lifespan Policy).
We encourage you to read through the case study resource, and check out the other resources available on the page.