RESEARCHERS AT Trinity College and St James's Hospital, Dublin, are beginning one of the world's most comprehensive longitudinal studies of the effects of ageing. The 10-year study, called Tilda, aims to tell us more about the physical aspects of ageing, its social impact and the economic ramifications of people living longer than ever.
Ageing is not a state of mind but very much a reality and understanding it is of huge importance to society, according to the head of the Tilda project, Prof Rose Anne Kenny. Currently 11 per cent of the Irish population is over 65 but this figure is predicted to rise to 16 per cent in the next eight years while the number of people older than 80 is going to double over the next decade.
Prof Kenny is the head of clinical ageing research at the TCD Institute of Neuroscience as well as the director of St James's new Centre of Excellence for Successful Ageing. She says that "it's of huge interest to the knowledge-economy and science in trying to unravel the processes which determine the ageing process".
Tilda will involve a random sample of 10,000 people over the age of 50 selected from across Ireland who will be tested on a number of occasions during the next decade. Such a large sample over time is expected to be representative, so it will be possible to generalise the entire ageing population.
Whereas previous studies around the world have looked at subjective measures such as self-report questionnaires, the Tilda study will be the first of its magnitude to gather objective data. Technology being developed by a consortium of Irish universities will allow scientists to take measurements never before gathered in such a large study. These will include blood pressure, heart rate, walking gait, bone density and a host of cognitive functions such as attention, memory and decision-making.
In addition to this objective health data, information on social status (eg, quality of life, quality of relationships) and economic status (eg, preparations for retirement, dependence on others) will be assessed.
According to Prof Kenny, what "makes the Irish study novel is the interaction between these three domains". She adds, "How interesting it would be if something as simple as social intervention . . . could make a difference to disease prevalence."
The Tilda study will be one of the topics of discussion this Sunday at 10.30am on Making Sense of it All on RTÉ Radio One. Pauric Dempsey, of the Royal Irish Academy, the show's presenter and his regular contributor Dr Claire O'Connell, will be interviewing Prof Kenny.
"How do the general public know what to believe?" asks Dempsey. His show which is currently in its first series, is an attempt to "give some sort of direction [on the] myths and realities" that we are constantly confronted with by the media.
For example, does detoxing really hold up scientifically? If so, how? What are so-called "superfoods"? Dempsey's show aims to guide us through this minefield.