UVic Examines The Myths and Mysteries of Aging

As people age, how do they cope with changes in their health, their relationships and their finances? That’s what researchers at the University of Victoria’s Centre on Aging (COAG) are hoping to discover as they take part in a national 20-year study of 50,000 Canadians aged 45 to 85.

The Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA)—one of the world’s largest and most comprehensive studies on the topic—will enable researchers to move beyond providing just a snapshot of the adult Canadian population. The CLSA will allow researchers to observe and understand the evolution of health and disease, physical and psychological functioning, and social processes that accompany aging.

“The multidisciplinary approach to this study is unusual, it brings together the biology of aging along with the social, psychological and other aspects of aging to see how they intersect over time,” says Margaret Penning, who is a co-investigator on the study along with COAG researchers Neena Chappell, Denise Cloutier-Fisher and Holly Tuokko. “The results will be essential to proper planning of services for our aging population. The CLSA is also the first longitudinal Canadian study to focus on baby boomers and how they approach later life rather than gathering such information from people who are already 65-years-of-age or older.”

While 20,000 of the CLSA participants will be interviewed by telephone every three years, the other 30,000 will be interviewed in person and will also participate in clinical assessments. The COAG will take a key role in both these areas.

The COAG is one of three sites in Canada that will begin conducting the phone interviews this fall. In addition, as one of 10 sites collecting data from in-person interviews starting in the fall of 2010, COAG will be teaming up with researchers in other UVic departments and the Vancouver Island Health Authority to collect data on 3,000 area residents.

Funding for the $30-million study comes from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. For more information visit www.clsa-elcv.ca
 

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