The Malaysian Cohort study was initiated in 2005 by the Malaysian government. The top-down approach to this population-based cohort study ensured the allocation of sufficient funding for the project which aimed to recruit 100 000 individuals aged 3570 years. Participants were recruited from rural and urban areas as well as from various socioeconomic groups. The main objectives of the study were to identify risk factors, to study gene-environment interaction and to discover biomarkers for the early detection of cancers and other diseases. At recruitment, a questionnaire-based interview was conducted, biophysical measurements were performed and biospecimens were collected, processed and stored. Baseline investigations included fasting blood sugar, fasting lipid profile, renal profile and full blood count. Active follow-up and reassessment started in 2013 and to date 35,000 participants have been reassessed including biospecimens.
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The West of Scotland Twenty-07 Study: ‘Health in the community’ was set up in 1986 in order to investigate the reasons for differences in health by socio-economic circumstances, gender, the place where people live, age, ethnic group and family type.
The basic design of the Study involved recruiting three cohorts (groups) of volunteers, each group born twenty years apart. Members of the oldest cohort were born around 1932, those in the middle cohort were born in 1952, and those in the youngest cohort were born in 1972. A total of 4,510 people agreed to take part, and have been followed for 20 years. The final wave of data collection was completed in 2008. This means that when the Study began (1987/8) participants were 15, 35 or 55 years old, and by the end of the Study (2007/8), participants were 35, 55 and 75 years old.
The data collected are extensive and include self-reported mental and physical health (including chronic conditions, medications, disabilities); physical measures; biomarkers; cognition; life circumstances (including employment, housing, family); health behaviours; beliefs, attitudes and values. The cohort is being followed up for mortality using linkage to national records. Any data on neurodegenerative disease are from self-reported health and / or death certificates.
A full description of the cohort profile is available in the following publication: Cohort Profile: West of Scotland 20-07 study: health in the community. International Journal of Epidemiology 2009;38:1215-23
ULSAM is a unique, ongoing, longitudinal, epidemiologic study based on all available men, born between 1920 and 1924, in Uppsala County, Sweden. The men were investigated at the ages of 50, 60, 70, 77, 82 88 and 93 years. The reinvestigations in ULSAM were based on the previous investigations. Full screening and official registry data is available in our databases and more data is continuously added.
Health examination at 93 years of age was carried out between December 2013 and March 2015. To this examination 245 men have been invited. Totally 147 men (60%) participated in the investigation. Of these, 23 men were examined at the hospital and 102 were visited at home by a nurse. In addition, 22 men completed only a questionnaire. To this examination even spouses were invited. In the complete examination 43 spouses have participated and 11 completed only a questionnaire.
The Concord Health and Ageing in Men Project (CHAMP) is one of the worlds largest and most comprehensive study of the health of older men ever conducted anywhere in the world. CHAMP involves 1705 men aged 70 years and older recruited from the community living near Concord Hospital in Sydneys inner west. Subjects were recruited during 2005 and 2006 and subjects were re-assessed after two, five and nine years. A 14 year follow-up assessment (wave 5) is planned for 2019. Clinical dementia assessment was done at baseline but not in waves 2, 3, and 4. Clinical dementia assessment will be included in wave 5.
The study is particularly concerned with cognitive impairment and dementia; falls, fractures and osteoporosis; and urinary problems.
The MemoVie cohort study aims to investigate the living conditions or risk factors under which the normal cognitive capacities of the senior population in Luxembourg (? 65?year-old) evolve (1) to mild cognitive impairment (MCI) ? transitory non-clinical stage ? and (2) to AD. Identifying MCI and AD predictors undeniably constitutes a challenge in public health in that it would allow interventions which could protect or delay the occurrence of cognitive disorders in elderly people. In addition, the MemoVie study sets out to generate hitherto unavailable data, and a comprehensive view of the elderly population in the country.
A 1-year follow-up was included in the original design of the study. The enrolled participants have been followed-up.
The Andhra Pradesh Children and Parent Study (APCAPS) is a large prospective, intergenerational cohort study in Southern India that began with the long-term follow-up of the Hyderabad Nutrition Trial (1987-1990). It is situated in 29 villages near the city of Hyderabad in Ranga Reddy district, Andhra Pradesh.
The Hyderabad Nutrition Trial evaluated the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme, a national community outreach program, which provides a daily food supplement to pregnant women and children under 6 years of age. The trial used a controlled stepped wedge design, recruiting pregnant women from 29 villages (15 intervention with program; 14 controls awaiting implementation) and followed them through to childbirth.
In 2003-5, trial households were retraced and surveyed: families with at least one child born during the trial period and still alive in 2003-05 became the APCAPS prospective cohort (1815 families, 2601 index children). At this time, a first wave (W1) of data collection was carried out on index children and their mothers. The index children were then re-examined as young adults (aged 18-23 years) in 2009-10 (the second wave, W2) and then again in 2010-12 (the third wave, W3) when their siblings and parents were also examined. A socio-demographic household survey of all residents in all 29 villages was completed between 2012 and 2014.
ASPREE is a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled primary prevention trial designed to assess whether daily active treatment of 100 mg enteric-coated aspirin will extend the duration of disability-free life in healthy participants aged 70 years and above except for Hispanic and African American minority groups in the U.S. where the minimum age of entry is 65 years.
The primary objective is to determine whether low-dose aspirin prolongs life, or life free of dementia, or life free of significant, persistent physical disability in the healthy elderly. Secondary objectives relate to the effects of low-dose aspirin on the key outcome areas of death, cardiovascular disease, dementia and cognitive decline, cancer, physical disability, depression and major bleeding episodes. Variables were collected annually through visits and for the purposes of retention telephone calls were scheduled at set points through the 7 years.
The Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Study (CLHLS) is a large-scale population-based study on health status and quality of life of the elderly in 23 provinces (out of 31 provinces) of China since 1998 with 8 waves so far. The study covers approximately 85% of the total population of China and was conducted to shed light on the determinants of human healthy longevity. The CLHLS tried to interview all consenting centenarians in the sampled counties and cities. For each centenarian interviewee, compatible nearby un-related elderly and younger participants were interviewed, including about one nonagenarian aged 90-99, one octogenarian aged 80-89, 1.5 young-old adult aged 65-79 and 0.7 middle-aged adult aged 40-64. Detailed longitudinal data on physical and mental health, cognitive function, social participation, etc. at old ages were collected from a total of 96,805 face-to-face interviews with 16,557 centenarians, 23,081 nonagenarians, 25,842 octogenarians, 19,650 younger elders aged 65-79, and 11,675 aged 35-64 in the completed 7 waves from 1998 to 2014. For the 26,701 participants who died between these seven waves, data on mortality and quality of life before death (i.e., degree/length of disability and suffering before death) were collected in interviews with a close family member of the deceased. The completed seven waves of CLHLS had collected DNA samples from 24,693 participants, including 4,849 centenarians, 5,190 nonagenarians, 5,274 octogenarians, 4,770 aged 65-79, and 4,609 aged 40-64. The 8th wave of CLHLS is ongoing and expected to be completed by the end of July 2018.
Since 1993 the EAS has used systematic recruiting methods to assemble a cohort of over 2,200 elderly individuals from the Bronx, 26% of whom are African American. The EAS sample is broadly representative of the elderly population in one of the poorest and most racially and ethnically diverse urban counties in the United States.
The EAS has developed, tested, and applied strategies designed to meet the recruitment and retention challenges that may arise when conducting research studies with older adults. In 2004, the EAS began using the Registered Voter Lists (RVL) for Bronx County for continuous recruitment efforts. Individuals of at least 70 years of age, Bronx residents, non-institutionalized and English speaking are randomly selected from updated RVL and sent a letter followed by a screening telephone call. Persons who complete the telephone screening battery and agree to participate in clinical follow-up are invited to enroll. Continuing enrollment has resulted in over 2200 participants by 2017.
A family-based cohort study that is embedded in the Genetic Research in Isolated Populations (GRIP) program in the South West of the Netherlands. The aim of this program was to identify genetic risk factors in the development of complex disorders. For the ERF study, 22 families that had at least five children baptized in the community church between 1850-1900 were identified with the help of genealogical records. All living descendants of these couples and their spouses were invited to take part in the study. Data collection started in June 2002 and was finished in February 2005 (n=2065).