Comprehensive Health Assessment for Aging Study

A robust battery of standardised assessments of cardiovascular function, respiratory function, physical function including hand grip strength, balance, walk speed, visual health, hearing and cognitive health were used, all of which are comparable to those used in other longitudinal studies internationally. Other standard clinical measures including blood pressure, height, weight, and hip and waist circumference were also collected. Non-fasting blood and urine samples were also obtained as part of the health assessment. If glucose or lipid results were outside the normal expected range, then both the participant and participant’s General Practitioner were informed in writing. The assessment methods and their rationale for inclusion in the health assessment are detailed below.
Table 1 provides an overview of the physical, cognitive health, mental health, dietary assessment measures and biological samples measures included in the health assessment and compares the measures to other comparative longitudinal studies of ageing. While many of these measures are described in detail, a comprehensive description of the protocols used is beyond the remit of this article. Further manuscripts detailing specific strands of research being conducted within NICOLA that are not included in this manuscript will be forthcoming including the results from the analysis of the Wave 1 dietary questionnaire.
Table 1

Measures used in the NICOLA health assessment compared to other similar longitudinal studies of ageing

Outcome Measure	Type of assessment	Measures	Comparative study
Physical Health	Anthropometric	Weight Height Waist and hip circumference	TILDA, ELSA
	Body composition	Bodystat (% body fat)	None
	Cardiovascular	Blood pressure Orthostatic blood pressure	TILDA, ELSA
	Respiratory	Spirometry	ELSA
	Mobility and strength	Step test Timed up and go Grip strength (dynamometry)	TILDA, ELSA
	Vision	Visual acuity Multi-modal retinal imaging	TILDA (visual acuity)
	Facial photograph	Physical attractiveness / signs of ageing	None
Cognitive Health	Cognitive function	MMSE MOCA Colour trails 2 Animal recall	TILDA
Dietary Intake*	Food frequency questionnaire	Dietary intake (EPIC-FFQ) Special diets Cooking and food shopping Food supplements / vitamins	ELSA (Wave 9 only, online FFQ (Oxford-WebQ))
Mental Health	Mental well-being Depression	Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (WEMWBS) Centre for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D)	None ELSA
Biological Samples	Blood and urine sample (non-fasting)	Lipid profile Genomic biomarkers Dietary biomarkers Bone markers Inflammatory markers Other biomarkers	TILDA, ELSA

* Not detailed in this paper