This project is concerned with optimal management and scientific description of the total BLSA population, which includes, as of 8/1/92, 1147 active participants (465 women; 682 men), 473 inactive (161 women; 312 men), and 538 deceased (43 women; 495 men). Active participants range in age from 20 to 97 years old. Two major new research initiatives were approved and funded: the BLSA Vascular Initiative: Mechanisms of Race and Gender Differences in Hypertension with Aging, and the BLSA Perimenopausal Study. These projects, both of which include scientific questions about black-white differences, now drive recruitment of new BLSA participants. A new plan, adopted by the BLSA Steering Committee in March, 1992, calls for an additional 350 participants over the next 2 1/2 years, as follows: For the Vascular Initiative, 70 black females, 60 black males, 20 white females and 20 white males distributed over the age range. For the Perimenopausal Study, 100 black females, and 80 white, age 45 to 55. The BLSA has had health screening since 1989; however, additional health screening and the large black cohort required for the new initiatives present challenges for the development of new recruitment strategies.
