The Victoria Longitudinal Study

The VLS is a long-term, large-scale, and multi-faceted longitudinal investigation of human aging. Incorporating biomedical approaches, leading-edge technologies, and epidemiological perspectives, the VLS evaluates and tracks actual cognitive, health, functional and lifestyle trajectories leading to outcomes that can be classified as normal, resilient, exceptional, impaired, or dementia. Our studies examine these differential brain and cognitive changes as a function of interactions among multiple “biomarkers” of both risk and protection. Among these dynamically interacting biomarkers are those representing selected aspects of biological, health, genetic, metabolic, vascular, lifestyle, physical fitness, cognitive activity, sex/gender, and demographic domains

Types General population-based cohort
Participant Types No diagnosis
Countries Canada
Genders Male and Female
Sample sizes 0 to 4,999
Ages 40 to 59|60 to 100
Brain related measures
Funtional rating Individual physiological|Individual psychological
Anthropometric Blood pressure|Height|Weight
Physical Cardiovascular|Hearing and Vision|Musculoskeletal|Respiratory
Biological samples Saliva
Genotyping Gene screening
Brain imaging
Brain banking
Lifestyle Alcohol|Dietary habits|Physical activity|Smoking
Socio-economic Education|Ethnic group|Family circumstances|Housing and accommodation|Informal support|Martial status|Occupation and employment
Health service utilisation
Institute names University of Alberta
Current Sample Sizes 0 to 4,999

age at recruitment 55-85
last updated
recruitment period 1986-present
estimated current sample size number value 600
cohort acronym VLS
start date 1986-present
pi Dr. Roger A. Dixon
website https://sites.ualberta.ca/~vlslab/index.html
contact details VLS Lab Edmonton
Department of Psychology
P-217 Biological Sciences Building
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta
T6G 2E9, Canada
abstract  The VLS is a long-term, large-scale, and multi-faceted longitudinal investigation of human aging.
funders  National Institutes of Health (National Institute on Aging)
contact email [email protected]; PI Email: [email protected]
contact phone number 780-492-7602
estimated current sample size 0 to 4,999
sample sizes 1,700