We are requesting an 8-month support through 7/31/09 when the R01 completes, with substantial matching funds from Chinese resources, for additional DNA data collection and the addition of a control group of interviewees aged 40-64 in the last funded Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) wave scheduled for the second half of 2008. We plan to collect saliva DNA using Oragene tool kits from voluntary participants among 15,409 interviewees in the sample of about 937 counties/cities (other than the six longevity areas) in 22 provinces. We will collect blood (or saliva) samples and biomarkers through in- home health examinations by medical personnel from voluntary participants among 6,400 interviewees in the six longevity areas where the density of centenarians is exceptionally high. In total, we will collect DNA samples nationwide from willing participants among 21,809 interviewees, including about 3,404 centenarians, 4,504 nonagenarians, 4,504 octogenarians, 4,393 younger elderly aged 65-79, and 3,404 middle-aged controls aged 40-64. The oldest-old interviewees (i.e., those aged 80+) will include about 1,800 sibling pairs. In addition, we will also include in the sample 800 children and 800 grandchildren of the 800 centenarians in the six longevity areas. We estimate that about 19,492 interviewees (90 percent of the total sample) will voluntarily contribute either saliva or blood DNA samples. We will archive the multi-wave CLHLS data collected in 1998, 2000, 2002, 2005, and 2008, and make them user-friendly and widely available to all interested scholars. With anticipated research support after 8/1/2009, including a renewal of the parent R01 grant for five additional years of funding and Chinese funds to cover most of the costs in China, we will determine the genotype at a couple of hundred or more candidate loci for each of the willing participants who contribute DNA. We will develop and apply demographic/statistical methods for analyzing the non-genetic and genetic data resulted from this study to estimate the impacts of social, behavioral and environmental risk-factors and candidate genes, as well as their interactions on health and longevity at advanced ages. We emphasize that the ultimate goal of this environment-genes interaction project is to propose possible sound policies and programs that integrate social, behavioral, environmental and genetics (e.g. drugs and transgenic treatments) interventions for effectively enhancing human health at advanced ages.
This supplement project is mainly for additional DNA data collection in the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey wave scheduled for the second half of 2008, with substantial matching funds from Chinese resources.
We aim to gain a better understanding of the impacts of social, behavior, environmental and genetic factors and their interactions on healthy longevity. The ultimate goal of this environment-genes interaction project is to propose possible sound policies and programs that integrate behavior, environmental, and genetics (e.g. drugs and transgenic treatments) interventions for effectively enhancing human health at advanced ages.
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