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The aim of the Cambridge Centre for Ageing and Neuroscience (Cam-CAN) project is to identify the neural mechanisms underpinning successful cognitive ageing. The study recruitment participants over 18 from resident within Cambridge City and used epidemiological, behavioural, and neuroimaging data to understand how individuals can best retain cognitive abilities into old age. A major aim of the research programme is to understand the nature of brain-cognition relationships across the lifespan, and to highlight the importance of abilities that are maintained into old age.

This population study was not designed to have repeated measures for each participant, but rather as one extended and comprehensive study visit that took place over 3 stages.

The Canberra Longitudinal Study is a 12 year study into the health and memory of older people which commenced in 1990, with subsequent waves in 1994, 1998 and 2002. The 2002 wave was the last time that participants were approached for interviews – the youngest participant in 2002 was 82 years of age.

The Costa Rican Longevity and Healthy Aging Study (CRELES) is a nationally representative longitudinal survey of health and lifecourse experiences of 2,827 Costa Ricans ages 60 and over in 2005. Baseline household interviews were conducted between November 2004 and September 2006, with 2-year follow-up interviews.

The main study objective was to determine the length and quality of life, and its contributing factors in the elderly of Costa Rica.
CRELES uses public data files containing information on a broad range of topics including self-reported physical health, psychological health, living conditions, health behaviours, health care utilization, social support, and socioeconomic status. Objective health indicators include anthropometrics, observed mobility, and biomarkers from fasting blood and overnight urine. Mortality events are tracked and conditions surrounding death are measured in a surviving family interview (longitudinal follow-up data are not yet publicly available).

This is a feasibility study which has a Longitudinal Cohort design, following up participants at selected time points over a 1 year duration. The study will recruit 2 distinct groups: (1) patients with symptoms of cognitive impairment, and (2) study partners who are cognitively normal. The patients recruited to group 1 will have been recently referred to a Memory Assessment Service by their GP with suspected Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) & mild dementia. All patients referred to a Memory Assessment Service for this reason will be potentially eligible for inclusion in the study. Close friends or family members involved in looking after the cognitively impaired participants will also be asked to participate as study partners to attempt to measure the impact that looking after a partner, friend or family member with memory problems can have on a carer’s Quality of Life and other variables such as financial burden. Both cognitively impaired participants and their study partners will be given the option of additionally participating in two sub-studies:

– Mobile data collection: Using a web/mobile app to collect self-reported data on a more regular basis from home

– Wearable device: Using a wearable device that looks like a watch to collect information on activity and sleep

For the Esprit study, 1863 non-institutionalized persons aged 65 years and over were randomly recruited in 1999 from the Montpellier district electoral rolls, and re-examined 6-times at 2-3 yearly intervals. Objectives:

1) To determine current and lifetime prevalence as well as incidence of psychiatric disorder in the elderly;
2) to determine the risk factors for these disorders, their relative weight and interactions;
3) to study clinical heterogeneity;
4) to estimate the probability of transition towards a subsyndromic state or a given pathology;
5) to elaborate predictive etiological models.

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.

The main objective of the FINGER study is to find out if a multi-domain intervention could prevent cognitive decline among older people. With this intervention we also aim to investigate the effect of the multidomain intervention on disability, quality of life, depressive symptoms, the use of health care services and vascular risk factors.

Participants of the FINGER study have previously taken part in population-based non-intervention studies. They have an increased risk of cognitive decline. At the beginning of the study they are 60-77 years old. The FINGER study enrols approximately 1200 participants in six centers in Finland: Helsinki, Kuopio, Oulu, Seinäjoki, Turku and Vantaa.

The Health Survey for England series was designed to monitor trends in the nation’s 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 public’s 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

i-Share (Internet-based Students HeAlth Research Enterprise) is a new open and prospective cohort on university students’ health. Participants are registered in the first years of study initially with the Universities of Bordeaux and Versailles-Saint-Quentin many many other French universities are now participating. Students are followed up with yearly assessments.

The study sets 2 main types of objectives:

1. Evaluate the frequency and impact of several diseases that may have immediate or short-term consequences on health and well-being (e.g. stress and depression, migraine, sexually transmitted infectious diseases, etc.).
2. Biomedical research objectives on the determinants of diseases. We have set up a cerebral MRI study and biobank on a sample of about 2000 participants including DNA and RNA.