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The CONSTANCES general-purpose cohort is intended to serve as an epidemiological research infrastructure accessible to the epidemiologic research community with a focus on chronic diseases and aging. CONSTANCES is designed as a randomly selected representative sample of French adults aged 18-69 years at inception; 200,000 subjects will be included over a five-year period. At inclusion, the selected subjects are invited to complete questionnaires and to attend a Health Screening Clinic (HSC) for a comprehensive health examination. A biobank will be set up. The follow-up includes a yearly self-administered questionnaire, and a periodic visit to an HSC. Social and health data are collected from the French national databases. Data collected for participants include social and demographic characteristics, socioeconomic status, life events, behaviors, and occupational factors. The health data cover a wide spectrum: self-reported health scales, reported prevalent and incident diseases, long-term chronic diseases and hospitalizations, sick-leaves, handicaps, limitations, disabilities and injuries, healthcare utilization and services provided, and causes of death. To take into account non-participation at inclusion and attrition throughout the longitudinal follow-up, a cohort of non-participants was set up and will be followed through the same national databases as participants.

Last update – 20/06/2017

The original GAZEL cohort was composed of 20,625 employees of the French national gas and electricity companies (15,011 male employees then aged 40 to 50 years and 5,614 women between 35 and 50 years old) at its inception in 1989.

Follow-up is continuous and includes data collection on health status, lifestyle, and socioeconomic and occupational factors from various sources. A postal questionnaire is sent to the participants each year, and data are extracted regularly from the files of the personnel and medical departments of EDF-GDF and from national registers. Participants were invited in 1999-2000, 2008 and 2011 to a health clinic where medical and biological data were collected.

The main focus of research in the past decade was devoted to the study of the persistent, long-term effects of occupational exposures after retirement; of the transition between professionally active life and retirement; and on determinants of early ageing. Accordingly, in addition to the health, behavioural and social data collected yearly since the beginning of the follow-up, new data were thus collected on cognitive complaints, cognitive and physical functioning, limitations in daily activities, time use and social relationships of retirees.

Last update – 20/06/2017

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

The aim of the study was to determine the incidence of Parkinson’s disease and other degenerative / vascular parkinsonian disorders in a defined geographical area in the North-East of Scotland and to describe the long-term prognosis of patients and carers in an incident cohort compared to age-sex matched community controls.

Ascertainment:

  • Referrals from GPs
  • Referrals from hospital consultants
  • Hand-searching referral letters (neurology & DOME)
  • Electronic searching (GP, hospital discharge data)
  • Screening over 65 and over 75’s

Annual follow-up plus linked to death register.

Last update – 08/03/2017

The original purpose of the Add Health study was to help understand the causes of adolescent health and health behaviour with special emphasis on the effects of multiple contexts of adolescent life.

The cohort was then followed through their transition to adulthood and research turned to understanding the determinants and consequences of developmental and health trajectories from adolescence into adulthood.

Add Health combines longitudinal survey data on respondents’ social, economic, psychological and physical well-being with contextual data on the family, neighbourhood, community, school, friendships, peer groups, and romantic relationships, providing unique opportunities to study how social environments and behaviours in adolescence are linked to health and achievement outcomes in young adulthood. The fourth wave of interviews expanded the collection of biological data in Add Health to understand the social, behavioural, and biological linkages in health trajectories as the Add Health cohort ages through adulthood, and the fifth wave of data collection continues this biological data expansion (2016-2018).

Last update – 03/02/2017

ADNI began in October 2004. The overall goal is to validate biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease clinical trials. One aim is to find, validate and standardize more sensitive and accurate methods to detect Alzheimer’s disease at earlier stages and mark its progress through biomarkers. The study gathered and analyzed thousands of brain scans, genetic profiles, and biomarkers in blood and cerebrospinal fluid that are used to measure the progress of disease or the effects of treatment. More information on ADNI-info.org. All data is publically available at USC/LONI/ADNI.

The three overarching longitudinal ADNI study goals are:

  • Validation of biomarkers, especially for amyloid and tau, for use in AD clinical trials.
  • To detect Alzheimer’s disease (AD) at the earliest stage possible and identify ways to track the disease through biomarkers.
  • To support advances in AD intervention, prevention and treatment through the application of new diagnostic methods to apply at the earliest stages technically possible – when intervention may be most effective.
  • To continually develop ADNI’s now- legendary data access policy and continuously improve and expand the unprecedented data sharing model.

Last update – 07/02/2017

Aims & objective

  • To find out the known as well as some new factors which increase the risk of occurrence of stroke (half body paralysis, Lakwa) and of memory problem and other brain related problems.
  • To identify a group of apparently healthy people (50 years and above), carry out their health check up and follow them up over several years to detect any health problems (like heart attack, lakwa, memory problems) with increasing age.
  • To investigate the prevalence and incidence of and risk factors for stroke and cognitive decline in the elderly.

Updates about the health of the participants will be obtained from telephone follow-ups every six months and physical check-ups every three years. The study is expected to last for at least 10 years.

Last update – 02/02/2017

CFAS Wales aims to interview a representative sample of 3,750 people aged 65 and over in two areas in Wales (Gwynedd and Swansea). Using established and standardised techniques it will collect data that will enable the investigation of cognitive impairment, depression, physical disability and healthy active life expectancy for the whole group and within social groups. It will provide a foundation for other collaborative studies that investigate biomarkers and other early indications of risk of cognitive decline, such as imaging. It will investigate factors that may delay the onset of dementia, specifically focussing on the role of bilingualism and social networks. As the participants reside in a bilingual area this is a key opportunity.

Last update – 13/02/2017

The overall goal was to establish a genetic-epidemiological database to shed light on the aging process among the extremely old, focusing on physical and cognitive functioning. In the first wave 2,262 Danes born in 1905 participated in a home-based 2-hour multidimensional interview, including cognitive and physical performance tests and collection of DNA, carried out by lay interviewers. Population-based registers were used to evaluate representativeness.

The first wave took place in 1998 and participants were followed-up in 2000 and 2003. In 2005 all the surviving birth cohort members were invited to participate irrespective of previous participation:

  • Wave 1: 2262 participants (1653 with biological sample)
  • Wave 2: 1086 participants
  • Wave 3: 437 participants
  • Wave 4: 256 participants

Last update – 30/01/2017

The DEAS is a nationwide representative survey of the German population aged 40 and older that combines cross-sectional and longitudinal samples. Participants from baseline samples (drawn every six years) are followed up and enter the different panel samples. Panel data was collected at the same time as baseline samples until 2008. Starting from 2011, panel samples are interviewed every three years. Thus, DEAS enables an analysis of social change using the cross-sectional data of 1996, 2002, 2008, and 2014, as well as an investigation of intra-individual development over three to eighteen years (1996-2002-2008-2011-2014).

Last update – 16/02/2017