The next major round of data collection for the CLSA is now underway, following the successful conclusion of baseline data collection on more than 50,000 participants.

This first follow-up with participants for in-home interviews began in mid-July at most of the 11 sites across the country, and visits to data collection sites where in-depth physical assessments are conducted have begun in several locations.

The CLSA involves two groups of participants – those who take part in telephone interviews only, and those who take part in an in-home interview, and also visit a data collection site to undergo physical assessments. First follow-up interviews with participants in the telephone-interview cohort are scheduled to begin in the latter part of September.

A total of 30,097 participants completed in-home interviews and data collection site visits over the past three years. In addition, 21,241 participants completed extensive telephone interviews between 2011 and mid-2014. The participants, aged 45 to 85 at recruitment, were randomly selected from all 10 provinces.

Launched in 2010, the CLSA is following participants for 20 years to collect a wide range of information about biological, medical, psychological, social, lifestyle and economic aspects of people’s lives. Participants are contacted once every three years to repeat the full data collection, and contacted mid-way between these visits for the CLSA to keep in touch.

The data collected will become part of a research platform that will enable the continuing study for decades to come of how various factors influence health and the development of disease and disability as people age.

Alpha-numeric data from the participants who took part in the first wave of telephone interviews are now available, and more than 20 applications have been received to date from researchers who will use this information to study a variety of topics, such as social isolation, hearing loss, risk factors for falls, retirement transitions, and various health conditions.

The CLSA recently received $41.6 million from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research to fund the work from 2015 to 2020, bringing the CIHR total financial commitment to the study to $65.1 million. Earlier funding was also provided by the Canada Foundation for Innovation, and several provinces, universities and other partners.

For more information on the CLSA, visit our About the study webpage.