NEAR is happy to share that we are expanding to include Uppsala University and two additional databases: the Uppsala Longitudinal Study of Adult Men (ULSAM) and the Healthy Ageing Initiative (HAI). HAI is led by Peter Nordström and Anna Nordström, and ULSAM is also led by Peter Nordström.

ULSAM is a population-based longitudinal cohort study comprising all men born between 1920 and 1924 who lived in Uppsala County at midlife. The study was initiated to examine metabolic and cardiovascular risk factors and their long-term consequences for health and aging. Between 1970 and 1973, all eligible 50-year-old men were invited to the baseline examination. Participants have since been followed through repeated in-person examinations at ages 60, 70, 77, 82, 88, and 93, with a maximum follow-up of 43 years.

HAI is a population-based study initiated in 2012 in Umeå, northern Sweden, aimed at identifying cardiometabolic and functional risk factors in older adults and supporting healthy aging through preventive efforts. All residents aged 70 years were invited, and approximately 7,000 individuals completed a comprehensive health examination. HAI is linked to Swedish national health and administrative registers, allowing long-term follow-up of cardiovascular disease, fractures, dementia, medication use, and mortality.

“ULSAM and HAI together form a uniquely powerful research platform, combining genetic data from more than 8,000 individuals with over 1,800 carefully collected variables. With genome-wide data covering millions of SNPs, this resource enables researchers to gain new insights into the genetic drivers of common diseases and healthy aging”, says Peter Nordström, principal investigator (PI) of ULSAM and HAI.

Peter Nordström. Photo: Andreas Gradin

“We are delighted to welcome ULSAM and HAI into the consortium. The addition of these two outstanding population-based resources significantly strengthens NEAR, particularly from a genetic and healthy aging perspective. Also, the inclusion of Uppsala University is a crucial step in increasing our national coverage and advancing our mission to facilitate high-quality research on aging and age-related diseases in Sweden”, says the NEAR Director, Debora Rizzuto.

Debora Rizzuto. Photo: Maria Yohuang.

NEAR is expanding with two databases, the Swedish national inventory of health and care (SWENIS) and Sheltered Housing (TRYBO). The two databases are part of the U-age program, initiated by David Edvardsson at Umeå University.

SWENIS collects nationally representative data on residents’ health and quality of life. It also collects data on care provision characteristics and organization in Swedish residential aged-care facilities. TRYBO is studying sheltered housing* with a focus on health and how residents rate their quality of life.

“The SWENIS study addresses the fact that Sweden has no nationally representative and valid standardized measures of models of care and person-centeredness. Also, sheltered housing is a relatively new form of accommodation in Sweden. Therefore, knowledge of individuals’ experience of such a living form is lacking”, says the principal investigator (PI) of SVENIS and TRYBO, Anders Sköldunger.

Anders Sköldunger. Photo: Private

Debora Rizzuto is the NEAR Scientific Coordinator and has been involved in the inclusion of SWENIS and TRYBO in NEAR.

“We are very happy to welcome SWENIS and TRYBO. We believe that the expansion of NEAR with two databases focused on residential care facilities and sheltered housing increases the range and adds valuable perspectives to our NEAR data. Moreover, we are happy to increase our collaboration with Anders Sköldunger, with whom we have successfully collaborated for over 20 years”, says Debora Rizzuto.

Debora Rizzuto. Photo: Stefan Zimmerman

Anders Sköldunger is also the PI of the Swedish National study on Aging and Care – Nordanstig (SNAC-N), which has been included in NEAR since the start.

“I’m happy that SWENIS and TRYBO have become part of NEAR as well. I think it can serve as an excellent platform to make our data more available to researchers interested in examining these critical questions”, says Anders Sköldunger.

*Sheltered Housing:

• A relatively recent form of accommodation in Sweden where at least one of the movers should be at least 70 years old
• There must be common areas for socializing and a host at certain times of the day
  

Read more about U-Age, the research program that includes SWENIS and TRYBO.