The Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA)

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The Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA)

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The Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging

• A key component of the Canadian Lifelong Health
  Initiative, a strategic initiative of CIHR
• The Canadian National Birth Cohort
• The Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging
• More than 160 researchers - 26 institutions
  involving all 10 provinces
• Multidisciplinary - biology, genetics, medicine,
  psychology, sociology, demography, economics,
  epidemiology, nursing, nutrition, health
  services, biostatistics, population health
• Principal investigators Parminder Raina
  (McMaster), Christina Wolfson (McGill), Susan
  Kirkland (Dalhousie)

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Why a longitudinal study on aging?

• Changing demographics a high priority for
  government
• Healthy aging is important to the Canadian public
  and policy makers
• Canada differs from other countries in its
• health and social policy
• health care delivery systems
• climate, environment, geography, and
• retirement policy and pension programs
• Seniors of tomorrow have different needs and
  expectations
• major implications challenges for the health
  care system and for social programs

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Labour Force Participation Rate
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Labour Force Participation Rate
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Innovation - Cell to Society

• Mid life to old age
• Quantitative traits
• Physical
• Social
• Psychological
• Economic
• Gene-environment interactions
• Disease, disability, psychosocial consequences
• Adaptation

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Healthy Aging

• Definition (Health Canada, 2001)
• A lifelong process of optimizing opportunities
  for improving and preserving health and physical,
  social and mental wellness, independence, quality
  of life and enhancing successful life-course
  transitions.

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Study Architecture

• 50,000 individuals
• 20 year follow-up beginning in 2008
• Women and men between the ages of 45 and 85 at
  baseline
• Boomers
• Born between 1946 (62 y in 2008) and 1964 (44 y
  in 2008)
• pre and post boomers
• Born between 1923 and 1968
• Community dwelling at baseline
• Repeated assessment every 3 years
• Linkage to existing databases

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Data collection Survey baseline and longitudinal

• Tracking ( Household interview)
• 20,000 nationally representative sample
• Questionnaire data
• Telephone interviews and/or face-to-face
• Common set of questions
• Health behaviour, utilization, status
• Work labour market activity, transition to
  retirement
• Social support, networks, neighbourhood
• Linkage to existing data bases
• Administrative physician services,
  hospitalizations, medications
• Homecare, community services, mental health
  services
• Mortality
• Environmental, neighbourhood indicators

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Data collection Comprehensivebaseline and
longitudinal

• Comprehensive (in-depth) assessment (30,000)
• Additional questionnaire based information
  face-to-face
• Social, behavioural, economic, nutrition,
  lifestyle
• Clinical/physical assessment
• Medical, neuropsychological, physical measures
• Blood/urine samples
• Blood chemistry panel, biomarkers, genetics,
  genomics
• Infrastructure needs
• 10 sites across the country with the capability
  of high volume throughput

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Focus of Measurement

• Psycho-Social
• Social networks and social support/Social
  participation
• Lifestyle/behaviours
• Values and meaning
• Personality, emotion, psychopathology
• Built environments
• Care giving
• Economic
• Work to retirement transitions
• Wealth/Income
• Labour Force Activity

• Health
• Activities of daily living/disability/injuries
• Frailty/co-morbidities
• Chronic diseases
• Cognitive function
• Mental Health
• Oral health
• Vision, hearing
• Medications
• Health Care Use
• Institutional care
• Genetics/Biomarkers
• Nutrition
• Everyday competence, adaptive functioning, coping

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Investments and Commitments
Development of CLSA Protocol CIHR Institute of
Aging and partners Cash contributions of 4
million (CIHR) Commitment to securing funds for
ongoing operations and maintenance University
Partner Commitments to support CLSA through
in-kind contributions

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Partnerships

• Statistics Canada
• Discussions and some testing over several years
• 2008 CCHS as inception cohort
• CLSA collaborators are experts for
  questionnaire development
• HRSDC
• Interest in health, aging and retirement issues
• Health Canada and PHAC
• Discussion of support for large cohorts
• Interest in the household survey but not
  comprehensive
• Potential of CARTaGENE partnership?