Twenty-six research teams from 14 universities and research institutions across Canada have received a combined total of $1.77 million in funding to support analyses of longitudinal data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA).

The funding has been provided by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CHIR) along with support from the Quebec Network for Research on Aging.

Funded projects include:

• The influence of personality traits and loneliness on cognitive change in middle age and older adulthood  
  Jennifer Bethell, University Health Network
  
  
• Gene by psychosocial determinants (G*E) of lifelong wellness and foundational work for longitudinal geo-referenced multi-level analysis bridging Monnet and CLSA data in The Montreal Synthetic Ecosystem
  Laurette Dubé, McGill University 
  
  
• The role of guaranteed income in healthy aging: Canadian public pensions and their association with physical health, mental health, and health risks
  Daniel Dutton, Dalhousie University
  
  
• Healthy Aging: The effects of parenthood and APOE genotype on cognitive decline
  Liisa Galea, University of British Columbia
  
  
• Identifying genes associated with retinopathy in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA)
  Marie Pigeyre, McMaster University
  
  
• Development of machine learning models to characterize homebound status in older adults in Canada
  Shehroz Khan and Andrea Iaboni, University Health Network
  
  
• Depression and cognitive function in mid- to late-life: Longitudinal associations and vulnerable subgroups in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging
  Suzanne Tyas, University of Waterloo

“Research into the factors that help us age in healthy ways is critical if we want to support people to not only live longer, but live better as they age. This is especially important in light of the onset of COVID 19 and its impacts on the health and wellness of older adults,” 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 grateful to the Government of Canada for it’s ongoing support of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging and enabling research projects such as these that tap into its potential.”

More than $4.5 million has been awarded to researchers by CIHR through the Catalyst Grant: Analysis of CLSA Data funding opportunity. The most recent awards mark the third competition. 

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 biological, clinical, social and population health disciplines, and are aimed at understanding how various factors impact the maintenance of physical and mental health, and the development of disease and disability as people age.

To date, nearly 300 projects have been approved that will use CLSA data. To learn more about data access, click here.

The CLSA is a 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.