Puerto Rican Elderly: Health Conditions Project

The Puerto Rican Elderly: Health Conditions (PREHCO) study investigates issues affecting the elderly (individuals over 60 years of age) population in Puerto Rico: health status, housing arrangements, functional status, transfers, labor history, migration, income, childhood characteristics, health insurance, use of health services, marital history, mistreat, sexuality, etc. It is an island-wide, longitudinal sample survey of target individuals and their spouses with two waves of data collection: 2002-2003 and 2006-2007.

In the first phase of the PREHCO project, 4,291 elderly persons 60 years or older and 1,442 spouses were interviewed (1,042 of the latter being 60 years or older). A second wave of the project (2006-2007) converted PREHCO in a longitudinal study. In the second wave, those same participants were asked to do a follow-up survey, in which 3,891 target interviews and 1,260 spouse interviews were completed. The deceased and institutionalized participants were also interviewed using a proxy.

Last Update 21/09/2017

Types General population-based cohort
Participant Types No diagnosis
Countries USA
Genders Male and Female
Sample sizes 0 to 4,999
Ages 60 to 100
Brain related measures Cognitive function|Mental health|Neurological
Funtional rating Caregiver|Individual physiological|Individual psychological
Anthropometric Height|Hip circumference|Waist circumference|Weight
Physical Cardiovascular|Hearing and Vision|Musculoskeletal|Reproductive|Respiratory
Biological samples
Genotyping
Brain imaging
Brain banking
Lifestyle Alcohol|Dietary habits|Physical activity|Smoking
Socio-economic Education|Ethnic group|Family circumstances|Housing and accommodation|Income and finances|Marital status|Occupation and employment|Unpaid care
Health service utilisation
Institute names University of Puerto Rico
Current Sample Sizes 0 to 4,999

age at recruitment >60
last updated
recruitment period 2002-2003
estimated current sample size number value
cohort acronym PREHCO Project
start date 2002-2003
pi Professor Aberto Palloni, Professor Ana Luisa D’vila and Professor Melba Sanchez-Ayendez
website http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/DSDR/studies/34596
contact details Samuel Preston Professor of Sociology, Emeritus
4434 Sewell Social Sciences
abstract  The PREHCO study investigates issues affecting the elderly (over 60 years of age) population in Puerto Rico. It began in 2002 and 4,291 were recruited in Phase 1.
funders  United States Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health and National Institute on Aging
contact email PI email: [email protected]
contact phone number Tel no: (608) 262-2182
estimated current sample size
sample sizes 4291