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.
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The Health Survey for England series was designed to monitor trends in the nations 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 publics 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).
ILSE is an interdisciplinary longitudinal study that offers the opportunity to analyze inter- and intra-individual differences and changes over the life-span as well as relations between environmental factors, behavioral aspects, life-events, health behaviors, mental and physical health and well-being. The bio-graphical approach pursued by the ILSE-study is based on the assumption that the quality of developmental experiences in early life-phases influence the performance and possibilities of adaptation in later life in a unique way.
At the first measurement point, the ILSE sample consisted of 1390 persons from East (re-search centres: Leipzig and Rostock) and West Germany (research centres: Heidelberg, Bonn and Erlangen-Nuremberg). Stratified by sex and cohort membership (born 1930-32 and 1950-52, respectively) the representative ILSE-sample was examined by a interdisciplinary research team. The first round of data collection was conducted between 1993 and 1996, the second round with n = 994 participants from the data collection centres Heidelberg, Leipzig und Rostock (return rate = 90%) was conducted between 1997 and 2000. The third round of data collection which started in January 2005 ended in 2007. A fourth wave was conducted and completed between 2014 and 2016
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 Parkinson’s Progression Marker Initiative (PPMI) is an observational, international study designed to establish biomarker defined cohorts and identify clinical, imaging, genetic and biospecimen Parkinson’s disease (PD) progression markers to accelerate disease modifying therapeutic trials. A total of 423 untreated PD, 196 Healthy Control (HC), 64 SWEDD (scans without evidence of dopaminergic deficit) subjects, and 65 Prodromal subjects (individuals with hyposmia or REM Sleep Behavior Disorder) were enrolled. PPMI is actively enrolling affected and unaffected individuals with genetic mutations in LRRK2, GBA, or SNCA through the end of 2018. For the most up to date enrollment numbers, please visit http://www.ppmi-info.org/study-design/study-cohorts/. To enroll PD subjects as early as possible following diagnosis, subjects were eligible with only asymmetric bradykinesia or tremor plus a dopamine transporter (DAT) binding deficit on SPECT imaging. Acquisition of data was standardized as detailed at www.ppmi-info.org.
The Northern Ireland Cohort for the Longitudinal Study of Ageing (NICOLA) is a large-scale, public health study involving a representative sample of men and women aged 50 years and over living in Northern Ireland.
The primary objective of NICOLA is to collect longitudinal multidisciplinary data across a wide range of domains to be used for investigation and research relevant to ageing and making Northern Ireland a better place to grow old in.
NICOLA collects extensive information on all aspects of health, social and economic circumstances of ~8500 men and women as they grow older in Northern Ireland over a series of data collection waves approximately every 2-3 years.
Longer term research goals will investigate the determinants of retirement behaviour and economic wellbeing, the impact of cognitive function and sensory disability on decision making, the determinants of disability trajectories, the influence of social participation on these and the interaction of genetic, biological and psychosocial determinants on health and mortality.
There has been one sweep of data collection (2013 2016) and a second is currently underway (2017 – )
The Vallecas Project is developed in the Research Unit of the Alzheimer’s Center of the Reina Sofía Foundation by researchers of the CIEN Foundation. Its main objective is to determine a probabilistic algorithm for the identification of individuals at risk of dementia type Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in the course of a few years. This algorithm will be based on the combination of sociodemographic, clinical, neurological, neuropsychological, biological (from blood determinations) and neuroimaging (various 3 Tesla magnetic resonance modalities).
The recruitment phase of the Vallecas Project participants was extended from October 2011 to December 2013. Finally, a total of 1,213 volunteers aged between 70 and 85 and of both sexes were initially evaluated. Once included in the study, it is monitored annually for 5 years in order to assess the evolutionary profile of all participants, specifically identifying those who develop cognitive impairment and / or dementia. The cohort is being followed up annually for 4 years after the baseline.
The Health 2000 Survey, carried out in 2000-2001 in Finland, was coordinated by the National Institute for Health and Welfare, THL (the former National Public Health Institute) in co-operation with an extensive network of organizations and experts. The aim of the survey was to provide information on major public health problems, their causes and treatment, health service needs and utilization as well as functional and working capacity. The data for the survey were collected in comprehensive health examination including blood sampling, in interviews and in self-administered questionnaires. The nationally representative sample included 8,028 persons aged 30 or over of whom 85% participated in the health examination conducted at 80 areas in the mainland Finland. In addition, 1,894 young adults (18-29 years) were invited to the health interview and fill in the questionnaire. Further, 1,278 people who had taken part in Mini-Finland Health Survey carried out in 1978-1980 were invited to the re-examination.
The follow-up of the Health 2000 Survey, the Health 2011 Survey, was carried out in 2011-2012. All members of the Health 2000 sample (n=8,135), who were living in Finland in 2011 and had not refused requests to be invited to further studies, were invited to the Health 2011 Survey. In 2011, they were at least 29 years of age. A total of 59% of them participated in the health examination conducted at 59 areas in Finland. In addition, a new random sample of young adults (aged 18-28, n=1,994) was taken. A total of 415 of them were invited to the health examination and the rest of them (1,579) received only the postal questionnaire. Further, 920 people who had previously taken part in the Mini-Finland Health Survey and invited to re-examination in 2001 were invited.
The Health 2000/2011 cohort is also continuously followed-up by linkage to Finnish nationwide registers.
LEILA75+ is a prospective population-based cohort study on the epidemiology of dementia and other neurodegenerative disorders. The main aims of the study included to determine a) the prevalence and incidence of dementia as well as subtypes of dementia, b) the prevalence and incidence of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and c) the occurrence of other related conditions, such as subjective cognitive decline (SCD). Likewise, it was aimed at identifying risk factors and groups of high-risk-individuals for the development of dementia, MCI and SCD.
Overall, 1,692 individuals of at least 75 years of age (from private households as well as from institutions) were approached via random selection from the registry office of the city of Leipzig (response rate: 81%). Finally, the LEILA75+ cohort consisted of 1,265 individuals at baseline. Data collection took place at participants homes through structured interviews (incl. socio-demographic variables, a cognitive test battery/SIDAM, functional and psychosocial assessments, medical conditions). If participants were not able to complete assessments, proxy information was gathers from relatives. After baseline assessment in 1997/1998, 5 follow-up waves were conducted every 1.5 years. Additionally, a long-term follow-up was performed 15 years after baseline.
Further study details have been published in:
Riedel-Heller SG, Busse A, Aurich C, Matschinger H, Angermeyer MC. Prevalence of dementia according to DSM-III-R and ICD-10: results of the Leipzig Longitudinal Study of the Aged (LEILA75+) Part 1. British Journal of Psychiatry 2001; 179: 250-254.
Riedel-Heller SG, Busse A, Aurich C, Matschinger H, Angermeyer MC. Incidence of dementia according to DSM-III-R and ICD-10: results of the Leipzig Longitudinal Study of the Aged (LEILA75+), Part 2. British Journal of Psychiatry 2001; 179: 255-260.
Riedel-Heller S, G, Schork A, Matschinger H, Angermeyer M, C, Recruitment Procedures and Their Impact on the Prevalence of Dementia. Neuroepidemiology 2000;19:130-140.
The Lifelines Cohort Study is a large population-based cohort study and biobank that was established as a resource for research on complex interactions between environmental, phenotypic and genomic factors in the development of chronic diseases and healthy ageing. The Lifelines cohort distinguishes a children’s cohort (aged 0-18), an adult cohort (aged 18-65) and the elderly cohort (aged 65+). The protocol for these three sub-cohorts is largely the same, but focuses in part on the characteristics of the specific participant groups.
Between 2006 and 2013, inhabitants of the northern part of The Netherlands and their families were invited to participate, thereby contributing to a three-generation design. Follow-up visits are scheduled every 5 years, and in between participants receive follow-up questionnaires. Linkage is being established with medical registries and environmental data. Lifelines contains information on biochemistry, medical history, psychosocial characteristics, lifestyle and more. Genomic data are available including genome-wide genetic data of 15638 participants. Fasting blood and 24-h urine samples are processed on the day of collection and stored at -80 °C in a fully automated storage facility. The aim of Lifelines is to be a resource for the national and international scientific community. Requests for data and biomaterials can be submitted to the Lifelines Research Office ([email protected]).