Research on Aging Project in Iceland: Second Stage

Overview

Background: \- Researchers are interested in studying the environmental and genetic factors that play a role in health and living conditions as people age. Since 2002, the U.S. National Institute on Aging and the Icelandic Heart Association Research Institute have been conducting a long-term study known as the Research in Aging project to collect personal data and samples from Icelandic men and women in order to study risk factors related to disease and disability in old age. Researchers plan to initiate a second stage of the study. Objectives: \- To collect additional personal information, medical records, and blood samples from individuals who have previously provided materials for the Research in Aging Project in Iceland. Eligibility: \- Individuals who have previously participated in the Research in Aging project in association with the U.S. National Institute on Aging and the Icelandic Heart Association Research Institute. Design: * Participants will have a physical examination with imaging analysis procedures and hearing and eye tests, provide information on health and diet, and provide a 100-ml blood sample for testing. * Participants will also provide consent for researchers to consult data and samples collected during the first stage of the Research on Aging project.

In anticipation of the sequencing of the human genome and description of the human proteome, the Age, Gene/Environment Susceptibility-Reykjavik Study (AGES) was initiated in 2002. AGES was designed to examine risk factors, including genetic susceptibility and gene/environment interaction, in relation to disease and disability in old age. The study is multidisciplinary, providing detailed phenotypes related to the cardiovascular, neurocognitive (including sensory), and musculoskeletal systems, and to body composition and metabolic regulation. Relevant quantitative traits, subclinical indicators of disease, and medical diagnoses are identified by using biomarkers, imaging, and other physiologic indicators. The AGES sample is drawn from an established population-based cohort, the Reykjavik Study. This cohort of men and women born between 1907 and 1935 has been followed in Iceland since 1967 by the Icelandic Heart Association. The AGES cohort, with cardiovascular risk factor assessments earlier in life and detailed late- life phenotypes of quantitative traits, will create a comprehensive study of aging nested in a relatively genetically homogeneous older population. This approach should facilitate identification of genetic factors that contribute to healthy aging as well as the chronic conditions common in old age.