Australian Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ALSA)
ALSA is a longitudinal study that collected multidisciplinary data from a cohort of around 2,000 older people in Adelaide, South Australia. The study began in 1992 with a sample of around 1,500 participants, their partners, and other household members, aged 65 years and above. Both community-dwelling and people living in residential care were randomly selected from the South Australian Electoral Roll. The primary sample was stratified by age groups (70-74, 75-79, 80-84, and 85 years or more), gender, and local government area. At baseline, the cohort was 49% female, and the average age was 78 years. Participants were followed up for 22 years with 13 waves of data collection.
Study design
Cohort
Number of participants at first data collection
1,477 (primary sample)
597 (partners)
13 (household members)
Age at first data collection
≥ 70 years (primary sample)
65 - 103 years (partners and household members)
Participant year of birth
Varied (participants)
Participant sex
All
Representative sample at baseline?
No
Sample features
Country
Year of first data collection
1992
Primary Institutions
Flinders University
Profile paper DOI
Funders
National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)
Australian Research Council (ARC)
Enabling Confidence at Home (ECH Incorporated)
Government of Western Australia
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Ongoing?
No
Data types collected
- Activity log (e.g. food, sleep, exercise)
- Computer, paper or task testing (e.g. cognitive testing, theory of mind doll task, attention computer tasks)
- Interview – face-to-face
- Interview – phone
- Physical or biological assessment (e.g. blood, saliva, gait, grip strength, anthropometry)
- Self-report questionnaire – paper or computer assisted
- Interviews or focus groups
- None
- Healthcare data
- Medical birth registry
- Mortality data
Engagement
Keywords
Consortia and dataset groups
