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The Three-City Study (3C Study) is a population-based longitudinal study of the relation between vascular diseases and dementia in persons aged 65 years and older. A total of 9,294 participants (3,649 men and 5,645 women) were recruited from three French cities: Bordeaux (2,104), Dijon (4,931) and Montpellier (2,259).

The principal objective is to estimate the risk of dementia (Alzheimer’s disease and other types) that may be attributed to vascular factors.

In follow up 1 and 2 (2001-2004) participants were interviewed and subjected to physical and cognitive testing. In follow up 3 (2005-2012) participants completed a postal questionnaire. The third, fourth, and fith waves of follow-up examinations started in 2006 and finished in 2012. A sixth follow-up is ongoing.

Last update – 03/02/2017

GENDER is a study of unlike-sex twin pairs born between 1906 and 1925 (Gold et al., 2002). A survey concerning health and health behavior was mailed in 1994 with responses from 1,210 twins from 605 pairs where both responded. Mean age at baseline questionnaire assessment was 74.43 (SD 4.28) and all are Caucasians. A baseline in-person evaluation of 498 twins from 249 pairs between 70 and 80 years of age was undertaken between 1995 and 1997, and included an interview and tests of cognitive and physical functioning. Two additional in-person waves followed at 4-year intervals. Finally, a second survey was mailed in 2007 to all living twins who participated in the first mailed survey.

Last update – 04/03/2017

The PATH Through Life project is a 20 year longitudinal cohort study of 7,485 young (aged 20-24 at baseline), midlife (aged 40-44 at baseline) and older (aged 60-64 at baseline) adults randomly sampled from the electoral roll of the Australian Capital Territory and the nearby city of Queanbeyan.
The original aims of the project are outlined below.

To delineate the course of depression, anxiety, substance use and cognitive ability with increasing age across the adult life span.
To identify environmental risk, genetic risk and protective factors influencing individual differences in the course of these characteristics.
To investigate interrelationships over time between the three domains of: depression and anxiety, substance use, and cognitive ability and dementia.
Data collection has occurred at four intervals (4 waves), at approximately four year intervals with a good participant retention rate. The fifth wave of data collection is commencing in 2017.
Several design features of the PATH project contribute to its unique standing among population based longitudinal cohort studies.
Obtaining measures of genetic, biological (including MRI), psychosocial and lifestyle risk and protective factors for mental health and wellbeing.
Use of a narrow age cohort design with longitudinal follow ups as an optimal means of separating age and cohort effects.
Assessment of participants across the full adult lifespan, permitting investigation of developmentally significant, but under studied periods such as midlife
Recruitment and follow up of a young-old population, providing important pre-clinical data for studying the development of age related changes in memory and cognition.

Last update – 12/01/2017

The PICNICS study is an observational study tracking the progression of patients with incident Parkinson’s disease over several years to better understand how the disease behaves over time, and establish the pattern of evolution of subtypes of Parkinson’s disease. Understanding differences between subtypes and what drives them will inform development of stratified therapies. The study recruited patients with Parkinson’s disease between 2008 and 2013, and is following them up every 18 months with clinical assessments, cognitive assessments and biological sampling.

Last update – 16/01/2017

The PREVENT Research Programme has established a cohort of individuals to explore differences in the brain and cognitive function in healthy people in mid-life (aged 40-59). People are grouped into high, mid and low risk based on their family history and APOE status (a well-known risk gene for Alzheimer’s disease).

650 participants are assessed on biological indicators including markers in blood, saliva, urine and spinal fluid as well as direct imaging of the brain’s structure and function. Changes in all of these markers will be monitored at 2 years to work out if risks that predict these changes. One of the main aims of the study is to identify the earliest signs of changes in the brain whilst people are still in good health.

Last update – 13/12/2017

The major goals of this prospective cohort study of a randomly selected community sample are to: establish the prevalence and genetic, metabolic and environmental determinants of psychiatric disorders, cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF) and cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in the general population of the city of Lausanne; assess the mechanisms of the association between psychiatric disorders and CVRF / CVD.
Additional scientific questions focus on:

the identification of risk factors for the incidence and course of CVRF and psychiatric disorders;
the identification of risk factors for cognitive impairment;
the testing of novel biological marker candidates and the incidence or course of CVRF/CVD or psychiatric disorders;
the testing of associations between brain anatomy patterns and CVRF and psychiatric disorders.

Last update: 19/12/2016

The Busselton Healthy Ageing Study aims to enhance understanding of ageing by relating the clustering and interactions of common chronic conditions in adults to function. Phase I (recruitment) is a cross-sectional community-based prospective cohort study involving 5,107 ‘Baby Boomers’ (born from 1946 to 1964) living in the Busselton Shire, Western Australia. The study protocol involves a detailed, self-administered health and risk factor questionnaire and a range of physical assessments including body composition and bone density measurements, cardiovascular profiling (blood pressure, ECG and brachial pulse wave velocity), retinal photography, tonometry, auto-refraction, spirometry and bronchodilator responsiveness, skin allergy prick tests, sleep apnoea screening, tympanometry and audiometry, grip strength, mobility, balance and leg extensor strength. Cognitive function and reserve, semantic memory, and pre-morbid intelligence are assessed. Phase 2 (longitudinal, 6 year follow-up) commenced in 2016.

Last update: 25/01/2017

The Cambridge City over-75s Cohort Study (CC75C) is a long-term follow-up study of a representative population-based sample of older people which started in 1985 from a survey of over 2,600 men and women aged 75 and above. Through a series of interviews and assessments spanning almost three decades they have contributed to one of the largest and longest-running longitudinal observational studies of ageing into older old age.
The initial study targeted all men and women aged 75 or older who were registered within a selection of geographically and socially representative general practices in Cambridge, and achieved a 95% response rate in six of the seven practices. From this original survey of 2610 people, 2166 individuals form the baseline sample for the longitudinal cohort. This group has been followed up through ten surveys, with sub-groups assessed more often. Similarly high response rates amongst participants still alive in their late 80s or 90s, and even amongst centenarians, have built an extensive resource of quantitative and qualitative data contributed by a representative sample of very old people and their relatives.
The focus in later years shifted to quality of life issues of ‘older old’ people near the end of life for which we have been interviewing relatives or carers of surviving members of the cohort all aged 95 or more, as well as these study participants themselves.

Last update: 05/01//2017

The Hertfordshire Cohort Study comprises a nationally unique study of 3000 men and women born during the period 1931-1939 and still resident in the English county of Hertfordshire. Information available on these individuals includes birthweight (recorded by the attending midwife), weight at age one year (recorded by a health visitor), the method of infant feeding, and details of childhood illnesses up to age five years. Follow-up of individuals began in 1990 and medical and social histories have been ascertained, as well as detailed anthropometry, blood pressure, glucose tolerance, fasting serum cholesterol and triglycerides, bone density and physical performance. DNA on all participants has been collected and is stored in the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, University of Southampton, UK.

The entire cohort is being followed up through primary care and hospital records for clinical outcomes including incident coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, chronic airflow obstruction and fracture. The cohort members are flagged with NHS Digital for notification of deaths.

HCS is part of CLOSER (Cohort & Longitudinal Studies Enhancement Resources) which aims to maximise the use, value and impact of the UKs longitudinal studies.

Last update: 31/01/2017

The University of Michigan Health and Retirement Study (HRS) is a longitudinal panel study that surveys a representative sample of approximately 20,000 people in the United States.

Last update: 21/01/2017