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Canada's population is aging. According to estimates, by 2025 20% of our population, or one out of every five people, will be age 65 or older, compared to just 12% (1 in 8) in 2000. But while life expectancy has increased, life without disability has not increased to the same extent. A growing number of older Canadians will face the combined effects of a decline in physical function, medical problems and the development of chronic diseases. They may become frail or suffer from complex medical problems.
Improving the health of older Canadians requires a better understanding of the processes of aging.
The Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) is a large, national, long-term study designed to examine health patterns and trends and to identify ways to reduce disability and suffering among aging Canadians. Improvements in overall physical, social and emotional health may have the added benefit of reducing the demand for health and social services in the future.
The CLSA research team includes experts from across Canada in biomedical and clinical research, social sciences, psychology, health services and population health. Many years of developmental work will have been carried out before the CLSA actually gets underway, in 2008. The CLSA will be one of the most complete studies of its kind undertaken to date, in Canada and around the world.
As a result of the CLSA, health care providers and government policy makers will have new knowledge about the processes and factors that affect health and aging to enable them to better identify ways to prevent disease, promote healthy aging and improve health services for older Canadians. This will translate into better care as Canadians age and a better quality of life for our aging population.
The CLSA will follow approximately 50,000 Canadian men and women aged 40 and older for a period of at least 20 years. The study will collect information on the changing biological, medical, psychological, social, and economic aspects of their lives. These factors will be studied in order to understand how, individually and in combination, they have an impact on aging. By studying adults over a number of years - before they even enter the older-age population and as they age -- researchers will be better able to understand the roles these factors play in both maintaining health and in the development of disease and disability.
A longitudinal study is unique in that it follows the same participants over time. The major advantage is that, by looking at the changes that the participants experience over that time, researchers can describe health patterns and changes in the general population and better understand the sequence of events that leads to good or poor health. Other longitudinal studies have produced valuable health research findings. In the United States for example, the Framingham Study, which has been running for more than 50 years, showed us the association between heart disease and factors such as cholesterol.
No. While researchers will gain valuable information over the full length of the study, they will analyze the information collected at different times over the 20 years of the study and report their findings to the public on a regular basis. This will likely begin as early as the second year of the study.
Unfortunately, individuals cannot volunteer to be part of the CLSA, because the study design requires that potential participants be selected at random. However, you could be one of the 50,000 Canadian women and men aged 40 and older who are randomly selected from across the country, to participate in the study.
If you are asked to participate, you should know that participation is voluntary and that you can decide at any time that you do not wish to participate any longer. Further, all participant information will be kept confidential at all times and only the study staff will know the identity of those in the study. There will be no payment for participants. However, those involved in the study will have the reward of knowing they are contributing to knowledge about the health and lifestyles of aging Canadians, knowledge which will be applied to clinical practice, policies or further research to improve the quality of life of future generations.
The CLSA was initiated by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Canada's premier federal agency for health research, through its Institute of Aging. The CLSA is a component of CIHR's Canadian Lifelong Health Initiative, which aims to establish a research platform to conduct such large longitudinal studies on the health of Canadians.
Health Canada, Statistics Canada, the Canadian Institute for Health Information, the Canadian Association on Gerontology, the Health Charities Council of Canada, Merck Frosst Canada and the other CIHR Institutes have joined in planning and overseeing the study's development. Because of the size and scope of the CLSA and the amount of information that will be produced, new partners are expressing interest and more partners will become involved as the study progresses.
The CLSA's research questions and methods were developed by a team of more than 200 researchers and clinicians from across Canada under the leadership of Dr. Susan Kirkland (Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia), Dr. Parminder Raina (McMaster University, Ontario) and Dr. Christina Wolfson (McGill University, Quebec).
The CLSA team is also working with CIHR and Canadian experts in fields such as ethics, law and sociology, to ensure that all research is done in an ethical manner, respecting the values of Canadian society and the rights of those involved in the study. As required in Canada, all research will also need to be approved and monitored by research ethics boards.
It's easy to find out more and keep up to date on the CLSA by visiting the following websites:
Canadian Institutes of Health Research
You'll find regular updates on the progress of the study and other useful information.
