Research Resources

The IALSA research network is a collaborative research infrastructure for coordinated interdisciplinary, cross-national research aimed at the integrative understanding of within-person aging-related changes in health and cognition. The IALSA network is currently comprised of over 25 longitudinal studies on aging, spanning eight countries, with a combined sample size of approximately 70,000 individuals. These studies represent a mix of population representative, volunteer, and special population samples. Within the network, data have been collected on individuals aged 18 to over 100, with birth cohorts ranging from 1880 to 1980, and historical periods from 1956 to the present. Between-occasion intervals range from 6 months to 17 years (the majority 1-5 years), with between 2 and 32 (mainly 3-5) measurement occasions spanning 4 to 48 years of within-person assessment.

A new database created to capture the full spectrum of current Alzheimer’s disease research investments and resources—both in the U.S. and internationally—is now publicly available. The International Alzheimer's and Related Dementias Research Portfolio (IADRP), developed by the NIA, in collaboration with the Alzheimer’s Association, will enable public and private funders of Alzheimer’s research to coordinate research planning, leverage resources, avoid duplication of funding efforts and identify new opportunities in promising areas of growth. The newly developed resource, currently hosted and maintained by NIA, helps to track and implement research goals of the National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease (NAPA).

INDEPTH is a global network of HDSSs. Its 41 member centres observe the life events of millions of people in 20 LMICs in Africa, Asia and Oceania. Since its inception in 1998, the network has gathered a treasure trove of robust data, and is uniquely positioned both to answer the most pressing questions on health, population dynamics and development, and to provide policy-makers and donors with evidence on the impact of interventions.

This network of health and demographic surveillance systems (HDSSs) collects data from whole communities over extended time periods that reflect health and population problems in LMICs. By monitoring new health threats, tracking population changes through fertility rates, death rates and migration, and measuring the effect of policy interventions on communities, HDSSs provide information that enables policy-makers to make informed decisions and to adapt their programs to changing conditions.

The Interplay of Genes and Environment across Multiple Studies (IGEMS) group is a consortium of eight longitudinal twin studies established to explore the nature of social context effects and gene-environment interplay in late-life functioning. The resulting analysis of the combined data from over 17,500 participants aged 25–102 at baseline (including nearly 2,600 monogygotic and 4,300 dizygotic twin pairs and over 1,700 family members) aims to understand why early-life adversity, and social factors such as isolation and loneliness, are associated with diverse outcomes including mortality, physical functioning (health, functional ability), and psychological functioning (well-being, cognition), particularly in later life.

Korea became an aging society in 2000, as the proportion of those 65 or older reached 7% of the population. Lacking in basic data on ageing, Korea needs a structured set of statistical data. Institutional reform and policy making in preparation against the aged society requires systematic build-up of data that can track individuals' labor participation, income and asset status, spending patterns, retirement decisions, impact of social welfare, health, and intra-family transfer of income, among others. The purpose of KLoSA is to create the basic data needed to devise and implement effective social, economic policies to address the trends that emerge in the process of population ageing. The data will help identify and observe different dimensions of an aged society, build datasets that enable studies in different fields, and generate data comparable with similar panel studies in other countries (e.g., U.S., Europe) that can provide the basis for policy making and academic studies.

Data are lacking on the health, social support, and economic security of India’s growing elderly population, and concern is mounting about the well-being of this expanding group. By assembling a research team of demographers, economists, medical doctors, sociologists, and public health and policy experts, LASI aims to supply the data needed to take stock of the situation of India’s elderly population. It is hoped https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/pgda/major-projects/lasi-2/ that this evidence base will contribute to cross-national studies of aging and will inform the design of policies that can protect and support the growing elderly community.

MIDUS (Midlife in the U.S.) is a national sample of continental U.S. residents, aged 25 to 74, who were first interviewed in 1995-96. The original study was conceived by a multidisciplinary team of investigators interested in the influence of psychological and social factors on health, broadly defined, as people age from early adulthood to later life. MIDUS is a collaborative, interdisciplinary investigation of patterns, predictors, and consequences of midlife development in the areas of physical health, psychological well-being, and social responsibility. The scientific scope of the study was extended by adding comprehensive biological assessments on a subsample of respondents. In its longitudinal extension, MIDUS thus became a forum for investigating health as an integrative process, which involved combining the behavioral and social sciences together with bio-medically oriented research.

NIA supports a multi-institutional study investigating diets and dietary supplements purported to extend lifespan and delay disease and dysfunction. ITP allows investigators to submit proposals for interventions to be tested for their ability to decelerate aging and extend lifespan in mice.

The Kaiser Permanente (KP) Research Bank is a nationwide research bank that facilitates studies related to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease. The KP Research Bank includes information from three sources—genetic information from a blood sample, comprehensive medical record information, and survey data on lifestyle and health issues not captured in the medical record. By combining data from seven regions nationwide reflecting the general population, the KP Research Bank has the scale to reflect population diversity. KP Research Bank may share de-identified information through secure databases–such as online database of the NIH. Any genetic information is de-identified to protect the participant's privacy.

The LIFE Study was a Phase III clinical trial in 1635 sedentary persons age 70-89 at high risk for developing major mobility disability (defined as the inability to walk 400 meters). The primary aim was to assess the long-term effects of the proposed interventions on the primary outcome of major mobility disability, defined as inability to walk 400 m. The secondary aims focused on assessing the relative effects of the interventions on the following outcomes: cognitive function; serious fall injuries; persistent mobility disability; the combined outcome of major mobility disability or death; disability in activities of daily living; cardiovascular and pulmonary events; and cost-effectiveness. Tertiary aims related to assessing the relative effects of the interventions on (a) the combined outcome of mild cognitive impairment or dementia and (b) physical performance within pre-specified subgroups defined on the basis of race, gender and baseline physical performance.