Study of Dementia in Swedish Twins
The Study of Dementia in Swedish Twins (sometimes referred to as ‘SALZA’) was launched in 1984 to identify all cases of dementia within the Swedish Adoption/Twin Study of Aging (SATSA). SATSA is itself a selected subset of the Swedish Twin Register (STR). Because SALZA twins were from the STR, data collected from STR surveys in the 1960s or 1970s provide prospective information about midlife risk or protective factors. Both members of twin pairs were followed longitudinally. Since SATSA has continued to collect data at approximately three-year intervals, the SALZA researchers have added new cases of dementia identified at subsequent waves. The archived database continues through the sixth wave of in-person testing, with dementia diagnoses through to 2004.
Study design
Registry, Cohort
Number of participants at first data collection
2,394 (participants)
Age at first data collection
Varied (participants)
Participant year of birth
Varied (participants)
Participant sex
All
Representative sample at baseline?
No
Sample features
Country
Year of first data collection
~ 1960 (Swedish Twin Register (STR) linkage)
1984 (SALZA participants)
Primary Institutions
Karolinska Institute (Karolinska Institutet, KI)
University of Southern California (USC)
Profile paper DOI
Funders
Alzheimer's Association
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Ongoing?
No
Data types collected
- 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)
- Secondary data
- Self-report questionnaire – paper or computer assisted
- None
- Computerized tomography (CT)
- Existing research data
Engagement
Keywords
Consortia and dataset groups
