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The health of the agricultural population has been previously explored, particularly in relation to the farming exposures and among professionally active individuals. However, few studies specifically focused on health and aging among elders retired from agriculture. Yet, this population faces the long-term effects of occupational exposures and multiple difficulties related to living and aging in rural area (limited access to shops, services, and practitioners). However, these difficulties may be counter-balanced by advantages related to healthier lifestyle, richer social support and better living environment. The general aim of the AMI cohort was to study health and aging in elderly farmers living in rural area through a multidisciplinary approach, with a main focus on dementia.

The study started in 2007, with two follow-up visits over 5 years. Baseline visits were conducted at home by a neuropsychologist then by a geriatrician for all cases suspected of dementia, for all subjects suspected of being demented. The 10-year visit is currently on going.

The British Women’s Heart and Health Study is a prospective cohort study of heart disease in over 4000 British women between the ages of 60 and 79. It is funded by the British Heart Foundation. The Study aims to provide information about existing patterns of treatment of heart disease, and further the understanding of risk factors and disease prevention. We collected our baseline data in 1999-2001, and have been tracking the cohort since. Participants have been re-contacted through questionnaires or assessment in 2003, 2007 & 2010.

The Costa Rican Longevity and Healthy Aging Study (CRELES) is a nationally representative longitudinal survey of health and lifecourse experiences of 2,827 Costa Ricans ages 60 and over in 2005. Baseline household interviews were conducted between November 2004 and September 2006, with 2-year follow-up interviews.

The main study objective was to determine the length and quality of life, and its contributing factors in the elderly of Costa Rica.
CRELES uses public data files containing information on a broad range of topics including self-reported physical health, psychological health, living conditions, health behaviours, health care utilization, social support, and socioeconomic status. Objective health indicators include anthropometrics, observed mobility, and biomarkers from fasting blood and overnight urine. Mortality events are tracked and conditions surrounding death are measured in a surviving family interview (longitudinal follow-up data are not yet publicly available).

For the Esprit study, 1863 non-institutionalized persons aged 65 years and over were randomly recruited in 1999 from the Montpellier district electoral rolls, and re-examined 6-times at 2-3 yearly intervals. Objectives:

1) To determine current and lifetime prevalence as well as incidence of psychiatric disorder in the elderly;
2) to determine the risk factors for these disorders, their relative weight and interactions;
3) to study clinical heterogeneity;
4) to estimate the probability of transition towards a subsyndromic state or a given pathology;
5) to elaborate predictive etiological models.

The purpose of this project is to describe changes in health and functioning among older people. Living conditions and life-style are studied as predictors of health, functioning, need of care and mortality. This multidisciplinary study includes several prospective arms. In 1988 a random sample of people aged 65-84 years were interviewed in their homes. Follow up interviews for them were conducted in 1996 and 2004. During the same years 65-69 year old people were interviewed to capture cohort changes in aging. In 1989 all men born before 1924 and every other woman living in nursing home were interviewed. In 1989 all 75-year-old and 1990 all 80-year-old residents of Jyväskylä were studied in the laboratory with extensive functional testing and clinical examinations. The 75-year-old people were followed up after 5, 10 and 15 years and the 80-year-olds after 5 and 10 years. In addition, register-based data on hospital and long-term care is being updated until the entire cohort becomes extinct. Altogether, 2500 have participated in these studies.

The main objective of the FINGER study is to find out if a multi-domain intervention could prevent cognitive decline among older people. With this intervention we also aim to investigate the effect of the multidomain intervention on disability, quality of life, depressive symptoms, the use of health care services and vascular risk factors.

Participants of the FINGER study have previously taken part in population-based non-intervention studies. They have an increased risk of cognitive decline. At the beginning of the study they are 60-77 years old. The FINGER study enrols approximately 1200 participants in six centers in Finland: Helsinki, Kuopio, Oulu, Seinäjoki, Turku and Vantaa.

The Health Survey for England series was designed to monitor trends in the nation’s health, to estimate the proportion of people in England who have specified health conditions, and to estimate the prevalence of risk factors associated with these conditions. The surveys provide regular information that cannot be obtained from other sources on a range of aspects concerning the public’s health. The surveys have been carried out since 1994 by the Joint Health Surveys Unit of NatCen Social Research and the Research Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at UCL. Individuals are asked for written consent to link their HSE records to mortality and cancer registration data (from HSE 1994 onwards) and to Hospital Episodes Statistics (from HSE 2003 participants onwards).

Each survey in the series includes core questions and measurements (such as blood pressure, height and weight, and analysis of blood and saliva samples), as well as modules of questions on topics that vary from year to year. New topics in 2014 year included hearing and mental health. The achieved sample for the 2014 survey was 8,077 adults (aged 16 and over) and 2,003 children (aged 0-15).

i-Share (Internet-based Students HeAlth Research Enterprise) is a new open and prospective cohort on university students’ health. Participants are registered in the first years of study initially with the Universities of Bordeaux and Versailles-Saint-Quentin many many other French universities are now participating. Students are followed up with yearly assessments.

The study sets 2 main types of objectives:

1. Evaluate the frequency and impact of several diseases that may have immediate or short-term consequences on health and well-being (e.g. stress and depression, migraine, sexually transmitted infectious diseases, etc.).
2. Biomedical research objectives on the determinants of diseases. We have set up a cerebral MRI study and biobank on a sample of about 2000 participants including DNA and RNA.

The Maastricht Aging Study (MAAS) was designed to specify the usual and pathological aging of cognitive function. MAAS is devoted to the age-related decline of memory and other cognitive functions in normal people and the factors that may be involved in this process. What determines a decline in memory function? Why do some individuals show a greater decline than others? Over the past years, a host of factors, including biological, medical, psychological and social variables, have been proposed to have an impact on adult cognitive development. MAAS tries to study these factors in an integrative way. This can be achieved only by studying large numbers of normal healthy adults of all ages and by monitoring them for several years.

The LRRK2 Cohort Consortium (LCC) comprises three closed studies: the LRRK2 Cross-sectional Study, LRRK2 Longitudinal Study and the 23andMe Blood Collection Study. The LCC followed standardized data acquisition protocols, and clinical data and biological samples are stored in a comprehensive Parkinson’s database and biorepository, respectively. A total of 1,213 Idiopathic PD subjects, 1,168 PD subjects with genetic mutations in LRRK2, 1,123 unaffected subjects with genetic mutations in LRRK2, and 779 Healthy Controls (HC) were recruited.