The Honourable Dr. K. Kellie Leitch, Minister of Labour and Minister of Status of Women, and David Sweet, Member of Parliament for Ancaster–Dundas–Flamborough–Westdale, on behalf of the Honourable Rona Ambrose, Minister of Health, today met with researchers and participants in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA), Canada’s largest ever study on aging. Minister Leitch and MP Sweet congratulated the research team on reaching their ambitious recruitment goal and thanked the participants from across the country for agreeing to take part in the important study.

“Through strong collaborative efforts and leadership, locally and across Canada, we achieved the amazing accomplishment of recruiting 50,000 participants for the study,” says Dr. Teresa Liu-Ambrose, co-lead with Dr. Max Cynader of the Vancouver arm of the study. “At the UBC CLSA data collection site, we successfully recruited over 1500 participants in just 18 months. We appreciate all our participants and thank them for their time and commitment to the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging.”

Launched in 2010, the CLSA is a national study that will follow 50,000 Canadians, aged 45 to 85, over 20 years. Its aim is to find ways to improve the health of Canadians by better understanding the processes and dimensions of aging. Over the past five years, the CLSA research team has implemented the study and completed recruitment. All the participants have now completed baseline assessments including the telephone interviews, face-to-face interviews, as well as visits to specially designed data collection sites.

The study is a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) initiative. It was launched through grants from the Government of Canada through CIHR and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, as well as several provinces, universities and other partners.