The LoCARPon cohort: A study of aging in India
In 2009, Dr Henning Tiemeier, Professor of Social and Behavioral Science and the Sumner and Esther Feldberg Chair of Maternal and Child Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health met the clinical neurologist and epidemiologist, Dr Prasad at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi, where they speculated about the consequences of the rapid rise in life expectancy in India. In 2012, the team succeeded in raising money from The Department of Biotechnology, for the study, the Longitudinal Cognition and Aging Research on Population of the National capital region, LoCARPoN, in Hindi ‘dedication to the public’. It is one of the largest population-based cohorts in India of its kind.
This cohort integrates sociodemographic, lifestyle, anthropometric, dental, carotid Doppler, biochemical and neuropsychological measurements, magnetic resonance neuroimaging, and genomics. Data on specific Indian behaviors (e.g. yoga, vegetarianism, multilingualism, periodic fasting and unique sleep habits) related to health and well-being were also collected. For example, the dietary assessment includes two 24-h recalls and a food frequency questionnaire. With door-to-door visits, 8858 participants and 7505 persons from the urban site attended hands-on assessments in the study center (mean age, 64.6 years; 51% female; 92% Hindu; 91% multilingual; 81% college graduates; 54% vegetarian; 35% practicing yoga regularly). The first telephone follow-up was completed in January 2020.
“Now, data-sharing regulations are in place, and I encourage students interested in the data of the cohort and collaboration to contact me. There is no doubt, this study was a good investment, life expectancy in India today is 70 years and many chronic diseases are more common than in high income countries.“
The study is led by Dr Henning Tiemeier, MD PhD, Professor of Social and Behavioral Science at Harvard University.
Reference: Prasad K, Dwivedi SN, Kant S, Vibha D, Pandit AK, Karthikeyan G, Tripathi M, Srivastava AK, Nehra A, Vivekanandhan S, Garg A. Chutani AM, Verma V, Kumar S, Kumar A, Gulati K, Gulati A, Makharia G, Seth T, Dhingra K, Mandal PK, Kant Mishra N, Ikram MA and Tiemeier H. Cohort Profile: The LoCARPoN—a population-based prospective cohort study in middle-aged and older adults in India. International Journal of Epidemiology.