Search Studies Collecting Biomarkers
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Studies Collecting Biomarkers in Population Settings
National Social Life, Health, and Aging ProjectNational Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP) is an
in-home
survey of 3,005 persons aged 57 to 84 that collected biomarkers of
health and physiological functioning to better characterize the health
of survey participants. Timing of
biomarker data collection.
The
National
Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health
The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) is a
nationally representative study that explores the
causes of health-related behaviors of adolescents in grades 7 through
12 and their outcomes in young adulthood. Add Health seeks to examine
how social contexts (families, friends, peers, schools, neighborhoods,
and communities) influence adolescents' health and risk behaviors.
The Health
and Retirement Study
The University of Michigan Health and Retirement Study (HRS) surveys
more than 22,000 Americans over the age of 50 every two years.
Supported by the National Institute on Aging (NIA U01AG009740), the
study paints an emerging portrait of an aging America's physical and
mental health, insurance coverage, financial status, family support
systems, labor market status, and retirement planning. The full scope
of the study is described in this graphical overview of the data
collection process. HRS data products are available without cost to
researchers and analysts. User Registration is required in order to
download files. HRS is collecting now the following biomarker
data: blood pressure, breathing, hand strength, balance
test, walking test, weight, height, waist, saliva samples and blood
spots.
National
Health and
Nutrition Examination Survey
NHANES III 1988-94 and NHANES 1999-2000 are nationally representative
cross-sectional surveys of the civilian noninstitutionalized population
in the United States. The design for each of these studies included a
stratified multistage probability sample based on selection of
counties, blocks, households, and persons within households. NHANES III
and NHANES 1999-2000 were designed to oversample Mexican Americans,
non-Hispanic blacks, and children and adolescents to improve estimates
for these groups. Each NHANES consisted of an in-home interview
followed by an examination at a mobile examination center. The
NHANES study consisted of survey, clinical examination, and laboratory
components as well as a survey instrument.
Midlife in the United
States (MIDUS)
The purpose of this project is to carry forward MIDUS, a national
survey (N= 7,189), conducted in 1994/95 by the MacArthur Midlife
Research Network. The sample included adults aged 25 to 74, as well as
twins and siblings. Conceived by a multidisciplinary team, the study
investigated the role of behavioral, psychological, and social factors
in accounting for age-related variations in health and illness. MIDUS
II will add a second wave to the study, approximately 9-10 years later.
In addition, it will include a sample of African Americans in
Milwaukee, WI (N= 400). The biological data collection will include
laboratory challenge studies (both cognitive and orthostatic), with
accompanying assessments of salivary cortisol, blood pressure and
heart-rate variability. The project also studies the central circuitry
of emotion (affective neuroscience) and includes EEG measures of
cerebral activation asymmetry and emotion-modulated startle. These
measures have been previously linked to dispositional affect,
depression, recovery from stressful events, and selected biomarkers.
The
Wisconsin Longitudinal Study
The Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS) is a long-term study based on a
random sample of 10,317 men and women who graduated from Wisconsin high
schools in 1957. A companion sample contains comparable data for a
randomly selected sibling of most respondents. WLS data cover social
background, youthful aspirations, schooling, military service, labor
market experiences, family characteristics and events, social
participation, psychological characteristics, health and well-being,
and retirement. Data on heaight, weight and body mass index are
also available.
Social
Environment and Biomarkers of Aging Study (SEBAS) in Taiwan
The Social Environment and Biomarkers of Aging Study (SEBAS) provides
information regarding the health and well-being of older persons in
Taiwan. Taiwan has undergone rapid demographic, social, and economic
changes, becoming a highly urbanized and industrial society with a
growing population of persons age 65 or older. SEBAS explores the
relationship between life challenges and mental and physical health,
the impact of social environment on the health and well-being of the
elderly, and biological markers of health and stress. The study
collected self-reports of physical, psychological, and social
well-being, plus extensive clinical data based on medical examinations
and laboratory analyses. Examination of health outcomes included
chronic illnesses, functional status, psychological well-being, and
cognitive function. Questions regarding life challenges focused on
perceived stress, economic difficulties, security and safety, and the
consequences of a major earthquake. Biological markers were used to
identify cardiovascular risk factors, metabolic process measures,
immune-system activity, the hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal axis, and
sympathetic nervous system activity.
The Los
Angeles
Family and
Neighborhood Survey
The Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey (L.A.FANS) is a
longitudinal survey of children and adults in 65 neighborhoods in Los
Angeles County. Wave 2 of L.A.FANS, planned for 2006-2007,
collects, documents, and places in the public domain new data for
investigating the social and economic determinants of health status and
health disparities. L.A.FANS-2 re-interviews adults and
children from Wave 1 of L.A.FANS and collects extensive social,
economic, and health data, as well as information on the physical and
social environments in which they live and work. These data will
allow researchers to examine a wide range of hypotheses about
contextual effects on health and health-related behaviors using
multilevel statistical models. L.A.FANS-2 also collects
self-reports on health status as well as biomarkers of stress, disease,
and health, including obesity, cortisol (a stress hormone), blood
pressure, C-reactive protein (a marker of acute inflammation),
Epstein-Barr virus antibodies (a marker of immune function), total and
HDL cholesterol, hemoglobin A1c to assess diabetes and glucose
intolerance, and spirometry to assess pulmonary function. For
more details about L.A.FANS and information about obtaining the data,
visit the project web site at www.lasurvey.rand.org.
The
National Long Term Care Survey
The National Long Term Care Survey (NLTCS) is funded through a
Cooperative Agreement (2 U01 AG0007198) between the National Institute
on Aging (NIA) and Duke University's Center for Demographic Studies. It
is a longitudinal survey designed to study changes in the health and
functional status of older Americans (aged 65+). The survey began in
1982, and follow-up surveys were conducted in 1984, 1989, 1994, and
1999. A sixth follow-up survey was conducted during 2004. The NLTCS
survey population consists of a sample of 35,000 people drawn from
national Medicare enrollment files in 1982 that has been augmented with
subsequent samples of approximately 20,000 Medicare enrollees obtained
by adding 5,000 people passing age 65 between successive surveys done
approximately every five years. Both elderly in the community
(including those not impaired) and those residing in institutions are
represented in the samples. The survey is administered by the U.S.
Census Bureau using trained interviewers, and the response rate is
above 95 percent for all waves. Supplemental surveys consist of the
Next-of-Kin, Caregiver, and Blood and Buccal surveys done under
subcontract with ASPE and the Research Triangle Institute (RTI).
The
Women's Health Initiative Study
The Women's Health Initiative (WHI) is a long-term national health
study that has focused on strategies for preventing heart disease,
breast and colorectal cancer and osteoporotic fractures in
postmenopausal women. These chronic diseases are the major causes of
death, disability and frailty in older women of all races and
socioeconomic backgrounds. This multi-million dollar, 15-year project,
sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Heart,
Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), involves 161,808 women aged 50-79,
and is one of the most definitive, far-reaching clinical trials of
post-menopausal women's health ever undertaken in the U.S. The WHI
Clinical Trial and Observational Study focused on many of the
inequities in women's health research and will continue to provide
practical information to women and their physicians about hormone
therapy, dietary patterns, calcium/vitamin D supplementation, and their
effects on the prevention of heart disease, cancer and osteoporotic
fractures. The WHI holds a large repository of biological specimens
that are available for ancillary study investigations. WHI will make
available baseline and Year 3 serum, citrate plasma, EDTA plasma
samples, and DNA for use by investigators who successfully compete for
the Broad Agency Announcement (BAA).
Women's
Health and Aging Study III. Pathogenesis of Disability in Older
Women
This study evaluates the role of three potential contributors to the
pathogenesis of disability: inflammation, hormones, micronutrient
deficiencies, singly, in combination, and in relation to existing
diseases, impairments and frailty. These questions are being addressed
through analysis of already-collected data in the “Women’s Health and
Aging Study” (WHAS
I). WHAS I collected interview, physical examination and
performance-based data on the one-third most disabled women living in
the community; an ancillary study collected blood, analyzed many
measures, and stored plasma and serum. These data are
complemented by information obtained in a parallel investigation, WHAS
II, “Risk Factors for Physical Disability in Aging Women,” which
included the 2/3 least disabled women in the community.
The Cardiovascular Health Study
The Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS) is an NHLBI-funded observational study of risk factors for cardiovascular disease in adults 65 years or older. Starting in 1989, and continuing through 1999, participants underwent annual extensive clinical examinations. Measurements included traditional risk factors such as blood pressure and lipids as well as measures of subclinical disease, including echocardiography of the heart, carotid ultrasound, and cranial magnetic-resonance imaging (MRI).
The WHO MONICA Project
The MONICA (Multinational MONItoring of trends and determinants in
CArdiovascular disease) Project was established in the early 1980s in
many Centres around the world to monitor trends in cardiovascular
diseases, and to relate these to risk factor changes in the population
over a ten year period. It was set up to explain the diverse trends in
cardiovascular disease mortality which were observed from the 1970s
onwards. There were total of 32 MONICA Collaborating Centres in 21
countries. The total population age 25-64 years monitored was ten
million men and women. 10 year data collection has been completed, and
most of the main results have been published.
The
Danish 1905-cohort Study
The Danish 1905-Cohort Study set out in 1998 to study all Danes born in
1905 who were invited to participate in a home-based, two hour,
multidimensional interview, including cognitive and physical
performance tests and the collection of DNA. A total of 2262
individuals participated in the first wave in 1998, corresponding to a
63% participation rate. The follow-up survey in year 2000 of the
Danish 1905-Cohort included a total of 1086 individuals corresponding
to a 78% participation rate among the survivors. The
questionnaire includes questions on self-rated health, diseases,
medicine, Activities of Daily Living (ADLs), cognitive abilities,
depression, and life circumstances and events. Physical tests were
included: grip strength, agility, speed, and spirometri. DNA samples
were obtained through blood spots or cheek swabs.