The Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Minister of Health, and the Honourable Filomena Tassi, Minister of Seniors, today announced funding of $1.2 million for 17 projects to be led by researchers across the country that will analyze baseline data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA).

Using the CLSA platform, these researchers will seek to better understand various factors related to health and aging and create knowledge that will guide program and policy development to support healthy aging. 

The projects include:

• Dr. Teresa Lui-Ambrose at the University of British Columbia will study the impact of increased activity, reduced sitting, and good quality sleep on cognition.
• Dr. Chris Verschoor at McMaster University will identify biomarkers for healthy aging in older adults.
• Dr. Daiva Nielsen at McGill University will investigate the roles of genetics, social, emotional and environmental factors as determinants of nutrition and cardio-metabolic health in older adults.
• Dr. Susan Kirkland at Dalhousie University will use machine learning to develop health aging phenotypes and personas.

Funding for the projects comes from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Canadian Space Agency, and Quebec Network for Research on Aging. 

“The Government of Canada’s continued support of research into healthy aging has been instrumental in ensuring the success of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging research platform,” said Dr. Parminder Raina, lead principal investigator of the CLSA and a professor in the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence and Impact at McMaster University.

“We are thankful to our participants for their ongoing contributions, as well as to the researchers and trainees whose commitment to better understanding health, aging, disability and disease has resulted in more than 150 research projects approved to use CLSA data.”

The CLSA follows more than 50,000 men and women who were between the ages of 45 and 85 at the time of recruitment, for 20 years. Ongoing research projects and collaborations using CLSA data span the disciplines of biological, clinical, social and population health, and are aimed at understanding how various factors impact the maintenance of physical and mental health, as well as the development of disease and disability as people age.

Researchers interested in accessing the CLSA data can apply online by visiting here

The CLSA is a major strategic initiative of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Funding for the platform has been provided by the Government of Canada through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Canada Foundation for Innovation. Additional support has been provided by several provinces, affiliated universities and research institutions across Canada.