ELSA - Healthy Cognitive Ageing Project
Research type
Research Study
Full title
English Longitudinal Study of Ageing: Healthy Cognitive Ageing Project (HCAP)
IRAS ID
223741
Contact name
Andrew Steptoe
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University College London
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Z6364106/2017/04/37, UCL data protection number
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 7 days
Research summary
Dementia is a major public health problem with tragic consequences for the individuals and their families. This project will measure the prevalence of dementia and cognitive impairment among older people in English Longitudinal Study of Ageing using a harmonised protocol assessments as those administered by the Health and Retirement Study in the USA, that will allow us to compare the rates of dementia prevalence in the two countries. The findings will increase understanding of the personal, social and economic burden of dementia, and will help in the fight against this devastating condition. The purpose of this application is to collect detailed data in ELSA on cognition and related processes on a subset of the ELSA population using an enhanced assessment protocol harmonised with measures that will be administered in the HRS. The assessment will include an extensive battery of cognitive measures, compared to the selection of tests regularly collected in ELSA waves together with interviews with informants on a stratified random subsample of 1,000 ELSA participants aged 65 and older. In collaboration with the HRS team, we will use this battery of tests to develop algorithms to classify dementia, mild cognitive impairment and healthy cognitive function. Comparisons between cognition measures and dementia or MCI prevalence rates in ELSA will allow extrapolation to the rest of ELSA population in general. We will also be able to make direct comparisons of prevalence between ELSA and the HRS. We will also carry out studies of the validity of dementia estimates by carrying out back-validation against data\ncollected in the Medical Research Council Cognitive Function and Ageing Study, a leading UK population study of dementia, and by testing associations within ELSA between the new measures and the objective clinical data obtained through UK Hospital Episode and Primary Care Statistics.
REC name
South Central - Berkshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/SC/0254
Date of REC Opinion
26 Jun 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion