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The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) is a large-scale, nationally representative, longitudinal study on ageing in Ireland, the overarching aim of which is to make Ireland the best place in the world to grow old.
TILDA collects information on all aspects of health, economic and social circumstances from people aged 50 and over in a series of data collection waves once every two years. TILDA is unique amongst longitudinal studies in the breadth of physical, mental health and cognitive measures collected. This data, together with the extensive social and economic data, makes TILDA one of the most comprehensive research studies of its kind both in Europe and internationally.

Last Update 21/09/2017

The Norwegian ParkWest study is a prospective population-based longitudinal cohort study of patients with incident Parkinson’s Disease in Western and Southern Norway, with a total base population of more than 1 million inhabitants. The initial cohort comprised of 212 newly-diagnosed and drug-naïve individuals with suspected Parkinson’s disease, who were followed with standardized clinical examinations every 6 months. More comprehensive assessments, including neuropsychological and behavioural evaluations, were conducted at baseline and 1-year of follow-up, and at 2-year intervals thereafter. Currently, study participants are in the 10th year of follow-up. About 110 patients are still in the study.

Last update – 10/04/2017

The Southall And Brent Revisited Study (SABRE) is the largest tri-ethnic population-based cohort in the UK, involving nearly 5000 European, Indian Asian and African Caribbean men and women. It investigates the causes of diabetes and disorders of the heart and circulation and examines underlying reasons for ethnic differences in risk of these disorders.

The participants were aged 40-69 when first studied between 1989 and 1991. In 2008-2011 a comprehensive combined morbidity and mortality follow up was carried out, together with non-invasive clinical measurements in order to quantify sub-clinical disease. SABRE visit 2 tested hypotheses generated from the Southall and Brent baseline studies and ongoing mortality follow-up.

SABRE Visit 3 (25 year follow-up visit) started in July 2014 and is collecting data on index participants and new participants, including partners of index participants. The focus of this visit is on cardiac, cognitive and physical function in older age, in association with mid-life risk factors. Ethnic and gender differences in function will also be examined.

Last update – 10/04/2017

TRACK-HD was a prospective observational biomarker study in participants with premanifest and early Huntington’s disease (HD). Track-HD assessed longitudinal data collected at baseline, 12 months, 24 and 36 months at sites in Leiden (Netherlands), London (UK), Paris (France), and Vancouver (Canada). Participants were individuals without HD but carrying the mutant HTT gene (ie, premanifest HD), patients with early HD, and healthy control individuals matched by age and sex to the combined HD groups. Data were collected with 3T MRI, clinical, cognitive, quantitative motor, oculomotor, and neuropsychiatric assessments. TrackOn-HD followed on from TRACK-HD aiming to investigate compensatory mechanisms in premanifest gene carriers. Baseline, 12 and 24 month data was collected from the same four sites on premanifest gene carriers and healthy controls including 3T MRI, task and resting state fMRI, DTI, clinical, cognitive, quantitative motor and neuropsychiatric assessments.

Last update – 11/04/2017

This is the largest multi-centre study of ageing in men in the world and intends to identify the nature and frequency of some of the symptoms of ageing in men, the relationships between these symptoms to hormonal changes and other risk factors.

In total, 3369 men in 8 different countries in Europe are taking part in the study. These 8 centres are Manchester – UK, Malmo – Sweden, Tartu – Estonia, Lodz – Poland, Szeged – Hungary, Florence – Italy, Santiago de Compostela – Spain, Leuven – Belgium. In each centre, ~400 men aged between 40 and 79 years at the start of the study have been recruited. They will be followed up to look for future changes in their hormonal and general health status. The men will be investigated initially on two occasions, at the start and then ~5 years later. It is highly likely that the study will continue beyond 5 years and further testing will be organised subsequently. The aims of the study are to:

  1. Document geographical variations in the ageing-related involution decline of endocrine function in European men;
  2. Explain the variability in the rate of secular decline in endocrine functions on the basis of socio-demographic, lifestyle, co-morbid, ethnic/racial, or genetic factors;
  3. Predict the physical and psychological health status of individuals based on the variation in ageing-related endocrine decline and changes in body composition.

Last update – 24/04/2017

The Airwave Health Monitoring Study was established to evaluate possible health risks associated with the use of TETRA, a digital communication system used by the police forces and other emergency services in Great Britain since 2001. It is a long-term observational study following up the health of the police force with respect to TETRA exposure, and ability to monitor both cancer and non-cancer health outcomes. Around 53,000 participants have been recruited between 2004 and 2015.

Last update – 05/05/2017

The CLSA will collect information on the changing biological, medical, psychological, social, lifestyle and economic aspects of people’s lives across Canada. These factors will be studied to understand how, individually and in combination, they have an impact in both maintaining health and in the development of disease and disability as people age

A total of 21,241 people from across Canada have agreed to take part in a telephone interview, once every three years.

An additional 30,097 people consented to participate in an in-home interview, and a visit to one of 11 Data Collection Sites across Canada where they take part in a range of physical assessments.

These participants were selected randomly, and were aged 45 to 85 when first contacted. The interviews and visits will take place once every three years over the 20-year course of the study

The study has entered its next phase where each individual recruited between 2010 and 2015 (baseline) will be re-contacted for the first follow-up. This will be conducted between 2015 and 2018. During this phase, the CLSA research team will collect the same type of information that was collected at baseline, along with several new measures that have been introduced.

Last update – 12/05/2017

Disease follow-up for all the cohorts is conducted by active follow-up every 5 years and linkage to national disease and death registries.

The Singapore Health study is a nationally representative cross-sectional survey with the aim to estimate the prevalence of:

  1. Health conditions of hypertension, hyperlipidaemia, diabetes, overweight and obesity, hearing loss and chronic kidney disease, mental wellbeing and to allow comparison of these data with the National Health Survey 2010;
  2. Specific health behaviours; and
  3. Participation in health screening for chronic diseases, cervical cancer, breast cancer, colorectal cancer

2,352 Singapore citizens and permanent residents of age 18 to 79 years old participated in the survey from August 2012 to March 2013. Overall response rate was 40%. 1956 of the participants also underwent physical examination, additional surveys and provided blood and urine samples for tests and storage.

Last update – 28/06/2017

The Sydney Memory and Ageing Study (Sydney MAS) began in 2005 to examine the clinical characteristics and prevalence of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and related syndromes, and to determine the rate of change in cognitive function over time.

Non-demented community-dwelling individuals (N=1037) aged 70-90 were recruited from two areas of Sydney, following a random approach to 8,914 individuals on the electoral roll. They underwent detailed neuropsychiatric and medical assessments and donated a blood sample for clinical chemistry, proteomics and genomics. A knowledgeable informant was also interviewed. Structural MRI scans were performed on 554 individuals, and subgroups participated in studies of falls and balance, metabolic and inflammatory markers, functional MRI and prospective memory. The cohort is to be followed up with brief telephone reviews annually, and detailed assessments biannually.

Last update – 20/07/2017

The Million Women Study is the largest study of women’s health in the world. In 1996-2001, a quarter of UK women then aged 50-64 years (1.3 million women) joined the study. The aim of the study is to provide reliable information on potentially modifiable causes of common and serious illnesses, to help improve individual and public health. Study participants have provided details about their lifestyle and health and given signed consent for follow-up. Since recruitment their health has been followed mainly through electronic linkage to routinely collected NHS records (only 1.5% loss to follow-up after 20 years) and the whole surviving cohort has been re-contacted 4 times by postal re-survey to update exposures (1999-03, 2006-7, 2009-12 & 2013-14). Subsets of women have completed additional postal and online re-surveys.

Million Women Study is part of the Dementias Platform UK (DPUK), a multi-million pound public-private partnership to accelerate progress in dementias research http://www.mrc.ac.uk/research/facilities/dementias-platform-uk

Last update – 13/06/2017