The Mayo Clinic Study of Aging

The Mayo Clinic Study of Aging was designed to establish a prospective population-based cohort of subjects to study prevalence, incidence and risk factors for MCI and dementia. The study was conducted in Olmsted County, where several factors enhance the feasibility of population-based epidemiologic research. Most residents seek care within the community from essentially 2 providers, the Mayo Clinic and Olmsted Medical Center, along with their affiliated hospitals and medical facilities within the county. Both healthcare providers use a unit medical record which includes all outpatient and inpatient information for each patient. The study began October 1, 2004, and recruitment is ongoing to maintain a sample size of about 3,000 active participants. Participants are randomly selected from the Olmsted County population using a sex and age-stratified sampling scheme. Selected participants are invited to participate; exclusion criteria are persons who are in hospice or terminally ill or demented, but recruitment of persons with dementia began in 2015. Nearly 6,000 participants have been recruited to date. At the onset of the study, only 70-89 year olds were eligible. Recruitment of 50-69 year-olds began in 2012, and recruitment of 30-49 year olds began in 2014. Followup is performed every 15 months for 50 yrs and older; every 30 months if younger than 50 years by face-to-face visits in the Center, in-home, or by phone for a minority who decline either of the two but still would like to participate. Medical records are reviewed is used to identify prevalent and incident medical conditions (e.g. vascular diseases such as diabetes, hypertension) and incident dementia cases among persons lost to follow-up.

Types Neurodegenerative disease-specific cohort
Participant Types No diagnosis
Countries USA
Genders Male and Female
Sample sizes 0 to 4,999
Ages 60 to 100
Brain related measures Behaviour|Cognitive function|Mental health|Neurological
Funtional rating Individual physiological|Individual psychological
Anthropometric Blood pressure|Height|Weight
Physical Cardiovascular|Hearing and Vision
Biological samples Blood|Cerebral spinal fluid (CSF)
Genotyping Gene screening
Brain imaging Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)|Positron emission tomography (PET) – amyloid
Brain banking Consent for brain donation
Lifestyle Alcohol|Dietary habits|Smoking
Socio-economic Education|Ethnic group|Family circumstances|Housing and accommodation|Marital status|Occupation and employment
Health service utilisation
Institute names Mayo Clinic
Current Sample Sizes 0 to 4,999

age at recruitment 70-80
last updated
recruitment period Oct-04
estimated current sample size number value
cohort acronym
start date Oct-04
pi Dr. Ronald Petersen
website https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2821441/
contact details Dr. Rosebud O. Roberts The PI is Dr. Ronald Petersen, Department of Neurology,
Division of Epidemiology,
Department of Health Sciences Research,
Mayo Clinic,
200 First Street SW,
Rochester, MN 55905 (USA)
abstract  The Mayo Clinic Study of Aging was designed to establish a prospective population-based cohort of subjects to study prevalence, incidence and risk factors for MCI and dementia. It began in 2004 recruiting 2719 participants.
funders  National Institute on Aging
National Institute of Mental Health
National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, Robert H. and Clarice Smith and Abigail van Buren Alzheimer’s Disease Research Program, GHR Foundation
contact email PI Email: [email protected]
contact phone number 
estimated current sample size
sample sizes 2719