In this epidemiological study we examined the prevalence of medical comorbidity in elderly subjects with cognitive deficits and dementia. The ReGAl Project (Rete Geriatrica Alzheimer- Geriatric Network on Alzheimer’s disease) collected data in 33 Italian Geriatric memory clinics from January 2001 to December 2005. A total of 4,075 patient were recruited.
Last Update 21/09/2017
Alberta’s Tomorrow Project (ATP) is a longitudinal study tracking the health of 55,000 adults aged 35-69 years in this western Canadian province. ATP was launched in 2000 as a prospective cohort research platform to study the relationship between environmental, lifestyle, and genetic factors and the incidence of cancer and chronic diseases.
In 2008, ATP joined a nation-wide research platform called the Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow Project (CPTP) representing more than 300,000 participants from five provincial cohorts: Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces (Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Nova Scotia). Together, the consortium of five regional studies provides greater statistical power for research, as well as opportunities to examine geographical trends in health and wellbeing across Canada’s vast landscape.
The information contained herein is specific to the ATP cohort.
Last Update 21/09/2017
The aim of GS: SFHS is to establish a large, family-based intensively-phenotyped cohort recruited from the general population across Scotland, as a resource for studying the genetics of health areas of current and projected public health importance. It aims to identify genetic variants accounting for variation in levels of quantitative traits underlying the major common complex diseases (such as cardiovascular disease, cognitive decline, mental illness) in Scotland.
Baseline data was collected at a single clinic visit. Longitudinal data is available by linkage to NHS medical records. Some participants are being invited to new clinic visits in 2015-17. This profile also includes scanning information from the Stratifying Resilience and Depression Longitudinally (STRADL) study to which approximately 1500 GS participants are being invited for scanning.
Last Update 21/09/2017
The Older Australian Twins Study is a longitudinal, multi-centre study that investigates healthy brain ageing in older twins (65+ years). OATS commenced in New South Wales in January 2007, in Queensland in December 2007, and in Victoria in February 2008. Since the OATS study started we have followed our twin volunteers up every two years to check on their psychological and physical health. Participants undergo rigorous medical and cognitive function tests, with many participants’ also providing bloods samples and having a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan of their brain. In 2015 we finished our 4-year follow ups. OATS assessed 623 participants at baseline, 450 at the 2-year follow up, and 389 completed their 4-year follow-up.
Last Update 21/09/2017
The Puerto Rican Elderly: Health Conditions (PREHCO) study investigates issues affecting the elderly (individuals over 60 years of age) population in Puerto Rico: health status, housing arrangements, functional status, transfers, labor history, migration, income, childhood characteristics, health insurance, use of health services, marital history, mistreat, sexuality, etc. It is an island-wide, longitudinal sample survey of target individuals and their spouses with two waves of data collection: 2002-2003 and 2006-2007.
In the first phase of the PREHCO project, 4,291 elderly persons 60 years or older and 1,442 spouses were interviewed (1,042 of the latter being 60 years or older). A second wave of the project (2006-2007) converted PREHCO in a longitudinal study. In the second wave, those same participants were asked to do a follow-up survey, in which 3,891 target interviews and 1,260 spouse interviews were completed. The deceased and institutionalized participants were also interviewed using a proxy.
Last Update 21/09/2017
The rpAD study is a longitudinal study, which recruits patients from the entire federal territory. In addition, patients from the Clinical Dementia Centre are recruited at the Neurological and Psychiatric Clinic of the University Medical Center of G’ttingen, with these usually classical clinical forms being internal controls. The aim of the study is to characterize the biological factors and parameters that define the disease progression in AD.
After the patient is informed and consent is given, the inclusion examination is carried out. It includes a detailed history and anamnesis as well as a physical examination, which includes an in-depth examination of the neurological status. A neuropsychological test for cognitive testing is performed using the CERAD-plus test battery. Furthermore, the GDS score is obtained, which allows an assessment of the severity of the cognitive deficits by means of a 7-stage classification. The ADL score is used to assess the activities of daily life (Lawton and Brody 1969).
Six months after the initial examination, a telephone follow-up is carried out. Further investigations are carried out on an annual basis and correspond to the initial examination.
Last Update 21/09/2017
The Rhineland Study is a prospective cohort study, which began in March 2016. It will include up to 30,000 participants from Bonn and asses their physical and mental health over their lifespan. The study is scheduled to run for decades and participants will be re-examined every 3-4 years.
As neurodegenerative diseases and their pathologies develop over a long time before first symptoms start to show, the Rhineland Study will include men and women aged 30 years and above regardless of their health status.
The main aims of the study are:
1. To investigate modifiable and non-modifiable causes of neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric diseases
2. To find biomarkers/(multimodal) biomarker profiles to identify individuals at risk for neurodegenerative or neuropsychiatric disease, who might benefit from preventive interventions
3. To investigate (patho)physiology over the adult life course, with specific emphasis on brain-related outcomes.
Last Update 21/09/2017
The aim of the Alfa Study is to focus on the processes taking place before the initiation of Alzheimer’s symptoms in order to design interventions to prevent or delay the onset of dementia. Inclusion criteria were being cognitively normal Spanish and/or Catalan-speaking persons aged between 45 and 74 years that agreed with the study procedures and tests: clinical interview and questionnaires associated to risk factors, cognitive tests, a blood sample extraction for DNA analysis, and MRI.
A subset (n=450) of the ALFA parent cohort participants are currently being recruited / undergoing a nested longitudinal long-term study, named the ALFA+ study, in which a more detailed phenotyping will be performed. On top of a similar characterization as in the ALFA parent cohort, it will entail the acquisition of both wet (CSF, blood, and urine sample collection) and imaging (magnetic resonance imaging [MRI] and PET) biomarkers. Furthermore, ALFA parent cohort participants may also be invited to participate in other BBRC studies such the ALFAlife primary intervention study (n=400) or the full genetic and neuroimaging characterisation study referred to as ALFAgenetics (n=2000).
Last Update 21/09/2017
BiB – Children
Recruitment Period: 2007-11
Sample size at start or planned sample size if still recruiting: 13,857
Estimated current sample size: 13,500
Age at recruitment: 0
BiB – Mothers
Start date: 2006-10
Sample size at start or planned sample size if still recruiting: 12,453
Estimated current sample size: 12,000
Age at recruitment: 15-49
BiB – Fathers
Start date: 2006-10
Sample size at start or planned sample size if still recruiting: 3,414
Estimated current sample size: 3,000
Age at recruitment: 16-60
Born in Bradford is a long term study of a population cohort of 13,500 children, born at Bradford Royal Infirmary between March 2007 and December 2010, whose health is being tracked from pregnancy through childhood and into adult life. The information collected from the BiB families is being used to find the causes of common childhood illnesses and to explore the mental and social development of this new generation.
The Born in Bradford cohort study offers a unique window of opportunity to initiate an innovative and multidisciplinary programme of research. By recruiting pregnant women, their partners and their newborn babies to the cohort, this study offers the potential to:
The Bradford community provides a unique setting for a birth cohort study exploring the determinants of childhood and adult disease because of its diversity of population and high levels of ill-health.
Last Update 21/09/2017
The PROTECT Study will gather data and support innovative research to improve our understanding of the ageing brain and why people develop dementia.
We know that certain factors such as exercise, smoking and blood pressure affect our risk of dementia, and there is increasing evidence that our genes also play a role.
Participants in PROTECT will provide information about themselves and complete online assessments to measure their abilities such as memory and reasoning. By repeating these assessments each year we will monitor how they change over the study. Participants will also provide a sample of their DNA through a simple at-home kit. PROTECT participants will also have the opportunity to take part in innovative studies to answer crucial questions such as:
Last Update 21/09/2017