%0 Journal Article
%T The longitudinal urban cohort ageing study (LUCAS): study protocol and participation in the first decade
%A Ulrike Dapp
%A Jennifer Anders
%A Wolfgang Renteln-Kruse
%A Stefan Golgert
%A Hans Peter Meier-Baumgartner
%A Christoph E Minder
%J BMC Geriatrics
%D 2012
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1471-2318-12-35
%X In 2000, twenty-one general practitioners (GPs) were recruited in the Hamburg metropolitan area; they generated lists of all their patients 60£¿years and older. Persons not terminally ill, without daily need of assistance or professional care were eligible. Of these, n£¿=£¿3,326 (48£¿%) agreed to participate and completed a small (baseline) and an extensive health questionnaire (wave 1). In 2007/2008, a re-recruitment took place including 2,012 participants: 743 men, 1,269 women (647 deaths, 197 losses, 470 declined further participation). In 2009/2010 n£¿=£¿1,627 returned the questionnaire (90 deaths, 47 losses, 248 declined further participation) resulting in a good participation rate over ten years with limited and quantified dropouts. Presently, follow-up data from 2007/2008 (wave 2) and 2009/2010 (wave 3) are available. Data wave 4 is due in 2011/2012, and the project will be continued until 2013. Information on survival and need of nursing care was collected continuously and cross-checked against official records. We used Fisher¡¯s exact test and t-tests. The study served repeatedly to evaluate health promotion interventions and concepts.LUCAS shows that a cohort study of older persons is feasible and can maintain a good participation rate over ten years, even when extensive self-reported health data are collected repeatedly through self-filled questionnaires. Evidently individual health developments of elderly persons can be tracked quantifying simultaneously behaviour, co-morbidity, functional competence and their changes. In future, we expect to generate results of significance about the five study aims listed above.
%K Longitudinal
%K Cohort
%K Health
%K Promotion
%K Frailty
%K Comprehensive assessment
%K Ageing
%K Elderly
%K Functional decline
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2318/12/35/abstract