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The Vitality 90+ Study (in Finnish: Tervaskannot 90+) is a multidisciplinary project focusing on longevity and the oldest-old. The sub-projects address the biological basis of aging, predictors of health, functioning and longevity, old age as an individual experience, and the need for and use of care and services. The research is motivated by the rapid changes in the population structure and by the increase in real longevity.

Data was collected through mailed surveys with whole cohorts of people aged 90+ in Tampere, face-to-face interviews and performance tests and blood samples. The mailed surveys were conducted with all community-dwelling people in 1996 and 1998, and with both community-dwelling and institutionalized people four times since 2001.

Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB) is the second most common cause of neurodegenerative dementia in older people. The aim of LewyPro is to examine and characterise symptoms and brain changes during the prodromal period of LBD. Earlier diagnosis is important because it facilitates care planning, leads to earlier treatment of cognitive symptoms and enables earlier identification of other symptoms, including parkinsonism.

Lewy Pro is recruiting a group of people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and prodromal symptoms suggestive of Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB) and following them up annually to assess biomarker changes and clinical course. The initial assessment will include a detailed clinical assessment, a blood sample, a lumbar puncture for cerebrospinal fluid, and a DaTSCAN.

Last Update 21/09/2017

The CARTaGENE (CaG) study is both a population-based biobank and the largest ongoing prospective health study of men and women in Quebec. CaG targeted the segment of the population that is most at risk of developing chronic disorders, that is 40-69 years of age, from six census metropolitan areas in Quebec. The sampling was stratified by age, sex and postal groups and is proportional to the density of the population in these areas. Over 43,000 participants consented to visiting 1 of 12 assessment sites where detailed health and socio-demographic information, physiological measures and biological samples (blood, serum and urine) were captured. Participants are followed-up based on linkage to governmental health administrative databases and direct reassessment through a web portal.

Last update 21/09/2017

AIBL is a study of over 2,000 people assessed over a long period of time (over 10 years) to determine which biomarkers, cognitive characteristics, and health and lifestyle factors determine subsequent development of symptomatic Alzheimer’s Disease (AD).

The baseline inception cohort consisted of:
i. 211 individuals with AD as defined by NINCDS-ADRDA (McKhann et al, 1984);
ii. 133 individuals with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI)
iii. 768 healthy individuals without cognitive impairment. This group included volunteers with at least one copy of the ApoE ?4 allele, volunteers without a copy of the ApoE ?4 allele and 396 volunteers who expressed subjective concern about their memory function.

The enrichment cohort consists of:
i. 142 individuals with AD
ii. 220 individuals with MCI
iii. 582 individuals with without cognitive impairment.

The data was collected through clinics and questionnaires.

Last Update 21/09/2017

The German Study on Ageing, Cognition, and Dementia (AgeCoDe) in primary care patients is an ongoing multicenter prospective study in elderly individuals with a focus on the identification of risk factors and predictors of cognitive decline and dementia.
Between January 1, 2003 and November 30, 2004 a total of 3327 subjects free of dementia at baseline were recruited from general practitioner (GP) registries and assessed with structured clinical interviews and cognitive tests. Since then, participants as well as their proxies were interviewed by trained staff every 1.5 years. In 2016 follow-up 9 was completed.
Main inclusion criteria were ages greater than 75 years, native German language, absence of severe hearing or vision impairments, and residing at home rather than in an institution.
The approval of this study was provided by the local ethics committees of the Universities of Bonn, Hamburg, D’sseldorf, Heidelberg/Mannheim, Leipzig, and Munich. All subjects gave written informed consent before the participation in this study.

Of the 3,327 patients interviewed at baseline, 84.8% (n = 2,820) could be personally interviewed 1.5 years later and 73.9% (n = 2,460) 3 years later. For the vast majority of subjects who could not be personally interviewed, systematic assessments, focusing particularly on dementia, were obtained from GPs, relatives or caregivers.

Last Update 21/09/2017

KORA stands for “Kooperative Gesundheitsforschung in der Region Augsburg” (Cooperative Health Research in the Augsburg Region). KORA studies are conducted at regular intervals in order to assess the health status of the population in Augsburg and the surrounding area since 1984. The extensive database and biological specimen repository provide an excellent platform for national and international health research. More than 200 research projects a year are conducted with regional, national and international partners. To date, more than 2,000 publications have been issued. The main research areas are:
– Lifestyle and environmental factors as risk factors in the development of chronic diseases
– Identifying new genes for the most important chronic diseases and related risk factors
– Integrating research into risk factors and functional genomics
– Research on health systems: usage, costs and health status

Last Update 21/09/2017

General objectives of the NuAge Study:
1. To assess changes in dietary intakes of ageing men and women (foods, energy, macronutrients, micronutrients) and longterm exposure to functional foods from a qualitative and quantitative perspective;
2. To assess the influence of longstanding and current dietary habits and evolving food choices on changes in numerous markers of physical and cognitive status, functional autonomy and social functioning;
3. To assess the impact of age-related alterations in energy metabolism (utilisation and expenditure) and body composition, on changes in numerous markers of physical and cognitive status, functional autonomy and social functioning;
4. To assess the impact of individual (biological, psychological, health, functional, behavioural) and environmental determinants on dietary intakes.

The population is comprised of 1793 healthy men and women, selected from three age groups (68ﾖ72, 73ﾖ77, 78ﾖ82) at recruitment. A total of 82.4% of the population is French speaking participants and a total of 14.3% is English speaking participants.

Last Update 21/09/2017

Between 1998 and 2002 the Survey team interviewed over 12,583 Southampton women aged 20 to 34 years. Those who became pregnant after interview were invited to take part in the pregnancy phase of the survey. Women received ultrasound scans at 11, 19 and 34 weeks of pregnancy, and their babies were measured soon after birth. There were 3,158 babies born to women in the study between 1998 and 2007. The survey has followed up these children with home visits at six months, one year, two and three years. A sample of over 1,000 children was seen at 4 years of age, more than 2,000 children at ages 6-7 years, and more than 1,000 at 8-9 years. Current follow-up of children at 11-13 years will continue for a number of years.

The aim is to learn more about the dietary,lifestyle, hormonal and omic factors that influence the health of women and their children.

Last Update 21/09/2017

STROKOG is a consortium of longitudinal studies of cognitive disorders following stroke, TIA or small vessel disease. Developed under the auspices of VASCOG (Society for the Study of Vascular Cognitive and Behavioural Disorders), it is the first international effort to harmonise work on post-stroke dementia and is being led by CHeBA researchers.

The consortium brings together studies that have examined post-stroke or other high vascular risk cohorts longitudinally, with cognitive decline and dementia (including sub-types) as primary outcome variables. The included studies (N=27; total sample of more than 10,000 individuals, representing 17 countries) have rich neuropsychological and MRI data, and some recent studies (n=3) have included amyloid imaging in sub-samples. A number of studies have CSF and/or plasma available for biomarker studies, and participant enrolment in brain banks for neuropathology.

Last Update 21/09/2017

The Swedish BioFINDER Study consists of four cohorts where patients are included prospectively and followed longitudinally (www.biofinder.se). At baseline, these individuals undergo detailed and standardized cognitive, neurological and psychiatric examinations. Plasma, blood, CSF and samples for cell biology studies are collected. Most also have also undergone advanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging, and in many of the non-demented cases Amyloid and Tau positron emission tomography (PET) imaging have also been done.

The subcohorts include:
i) Healthy volunteers. Ca 350 volunteers aged 60-100 years old from the population-based Malm’ EPIC cohort (380 participants as of Feb 2016). Follow-up time: at least 8 years with investigations repeated every second year. In this cohort, appr. 20% is expected to have preclinical AD.
ii) Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) or Subjective Cognitive Decline (SCD). Ca 500 patients with MCI/SCD aged 60-80 years. Follow-up time: at least 6 years with investigations repeated every year. In this cohort, appr. 50% is expected to have prodromal AD.
iii) Patients with different dementia disorders. We include ca 250 dementia cases aged 40-100 years with AD, VaD, DLB, PDD or FTD. Follow-up time: at least 2 years with investigations repeated every year.
IV) Patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and PD-related disorders. Ca 300 patients with Parkinson-like symptoms. Follow-up time: at least 6 years with investigations repeated every year.

Last Update 21/09/2017