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DO-HEALTH > ANCILLARY PROJECTS > Ongoing & future activities

Ongoing & future activities

Ongoing projects

Manuscripts in preparation
TITLESTATUS
Effects of vitamin D3, omega-3s and a simple strength training exercise program on bone health: the DO-HEALTH randomized controlled trialunder peer -review
Effects of vitamin D, omega-3 fatty acids and a simple home strength exercise program on Functional Gastro-Intestinal Disorders among generally healthy adults age 70 and older: the DO-HEALTH randomized clinical trialunder peer-review
The effects of Vitamin D, omega-3 and Strength Home Exercise Program on the Change in Epigenetic Age Acceleration from Baseline to Year 3 in the Swiss DO-HEALTH population – A randomized Controlled Trialin preparation

Academic curriculum:

DO-HEALTH data is a treasure also for dissertation projects of young physicians. Below is the list with the current further use research projects. The mentorship is by Prof. Bischoff-Ferrari, with the support of the Centre on Aging and Mobility (ZAM) epidemiologists and the medical doctors of the department of aging medicine at the Stadtspital Zurich or the University Hospital Zurich.

TopicMD candidateResearch Team
Mentor for all projects: Prof. Bischoff-Ferrari
Predictors of clinical and radiographic vertebral fractures in DO-HEALTHAndreas AlbrechtDr. Melanie Kistler-Fischbacher, Dr. Caroline de Godoi / Dr. med. Gregor Freystätter, Prof. Dr. med. Robert Theiler
Is epigenetic age acceleration (EAA) increased with incident pre-frailty in DO-HEALTHEva Bär-GrundmannDr. Erin West, Dr. Dai-Hua Tsai Riediker / Dr. med. Michael Gagesch
The Association of Mediterranean Diet Adherence on Epigenetic Age Acceleration (EAA) in DO-HEALTHBettina Hohl-WelzDr. Stephanie Gängler / Dr. med. Katharina Geiling
Prevalence of vegetarian diet in healthy vs non-healthy agers / differences of protein-intake - baseline analyses in DO-HEALTHGiada TodeschiniDr. Stephanie Gängler / Dr. med. Gregor Freystätter
Association of metformin use with CRP and IL-6 in community-dwelling older adults: a 3-year prospective observational study of DO-HEALTHSimon ReichelDr. Caroline de Godoi / Prof. Dr. med. Heike Bischoff-Ferrari, Prof. Dr. med. Ralph Schimmer
Effects of Vitamin D, Omega-3 Fatty Acid and a Simple Home Strength Exercise Program on Physical Activity and Gait-speed among Older AdultsKariem HusseinDr. Melanie Kistler-Fischbacher, Dr. Michèle Mattle, Dr. Caroline de Godoi / Prof. Dr. med. Heike Bischoff-Ferrari
Kidney dysfunction and its effect on cognitive decline over 3 years in healthy, community-dwelling adults 70+ years from the DO-HEALTH studyCharlotte HölschDr. Erin West / Dr. med. Katharina Geiling
Normative Values for MMSE and MoCA among older adults from five European countries: a cross-sectional analysis of the DO-HEALTH trialGhazala GoharDr. Caroline de Godoi, Dr. Melanie Kistler-Fischbacher / Dr. med. Katharina Geiling
Gait performance as a fall predictor in older community-dwelling adults: a prospective analysis of the DO-HEALTH Basel cohortNadine SchönenbergerDr. Wei Lang / Dr. med. Stephanie Bridenbaugh
Association between gait performance and falls in older, community-dwelling adults: a post-hoc analysis of the DO-HEALTH Basel cohortLipps MirjamDr. Wei Lang / Dr. med. Stephanie Bridenbaugh
Determinants of cognitive change within 3-years in generally healthy adults age 70 years and older in DO-HEALTHLetizia RagazzoniDr. Caroline de Godoi / Prof. Dr. med. Heike Bischoff-Ferrari
Association between hemoglobin levels and mild cognitive impairment in European community-dwelling older adults: a three-year obervational analysis of the DO-HEALTH trialJanosch FunkDr. Maud Wieczorek / AS
Association between frailty status and hemoglobin levels in European community-dwelling older adults: a three-year oberservational analysis of the DO-HEALTH trialSimon BroghammerDr. Maud Wieczorek / Prof. Dr. med. Heike Bischoff-Ferrari
Association between polypharmacy and cognition: A 3-year prospective study among European community-dwelling older adults using DO-HEALTH dataKonstantin BaumannDr. Caroline de Godoi / Prof. Dr. med. Heike Bischoff-Ferrari
The table only shows ongoing projects. Once they are finished/published, the publication will be listed here.

If you are interested in a collaboration, please complete the form here.

DO-HEALTH BIO-AGE TRIAL

Funding: by the SNSF (SNF-project#:204452; 01.11.2021 – 31.10.2024).

Background and rationale: Slowing biological aging may be the lever to overcome the public health challenges of an aging society. The most promising key to move this lever is healthy life-style changes, being well-established and modifiable drivers of longevity. Indeed, in large cohort studies and small exploratory trials, increasing physical activity or adherence to an omega-3 rich Mediterranean diet or using vitamin D supplements, slowed biological age acceleration, suggesting that these healthy life-style factors may support a person to be biologically younger in the sense of fitter/healthier than expected. However, these evidence come from either cohort studies or clinical trials with small number of participants and short duration. Evidence from well designed, larger randomized clinical trials with longer duration of follow up to prove such benefits are urgently needed but missing to date.

Overall objectives: We aim to close these knowledge gaps by extending the large European DO-HEALTH trial by using Epigenetic Age Acceleration (EAA) as a validated measure of biological age acceleration. Our first aim is to test the effects of vitamin D, omega-3, and a simple home exercise program (SHEP), individually and in combination, on biological aging measured by EAA change (difference between EAA at baseline and three years of follow-up) in community-dwelling adults age 70 and older. Our second aim is to identify personalized optimal intervention or combination of the three interventions on slowing biological aging (negative EAA change between baseline and three years of follow-up), in 12 strata defined by participant’s sex, age, baseline body mass index (BMI), baseline physical activity and baseline blood levels of the nutrients tested. Our third aim is to quantify the economic benefits of slowing biological aging based on EAA change including direct costs related to healthcare utilization and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs).

Methods: To achieve our aims, we will take advantage of the trial structure and already collected clinical and health economic data, as well as biobank DNA from DO-HEALTH. For the DO-HEALTH-BIO-AGE-Trial, we will utilize the DO-HEALTH biobank-DNA collected at baseline and year three to measure EAA change based on two DNA methylation patterns (Horvath and PhenoAge epigenetic clocks), in 1642 DO-HEALTH participants with DNA-biobank samples and consent for both time points.

Expected results and impact: The prospects of this project are several. First, DO-HEALTH-BIO-AGE will be the first larger and longer term (three-year follow-up) clinical trial to clarify the role of three public health interventions that showed promise in several smaller trials in slowing biological aging. Second, the trial design will allow us to derive personalized treatment benefits based on individual and combined effects of the interventions overall and in key subgroups of older adults. Third, the study has the potential to support broad health policy efforts by providing cost-effectiveness of slowing biological aging. Finally, the innovative approach of using the DO-HEALTH trial structure & biobank DNA for the DO-HEALTH-BIO-AGE-trial allows us to provide primary results of a large three-year clinical trial on slowing biological aging in a very efficient time window of 28 months for the main RCT-findings, thereby advancing public health rapidly.

DO-HEALTH ELECTRONIC NUTRITION OPTIMIZER (eNO)

Funding: by the USZ Foundation (USZ Foundation Gesunder Rat – USZ Foundation (usz-foundation.com).

Description: Small changes in our diet have been shown to have a huge impact on health and the risk of age-related chronic diseases, such as cardio-vascular disease, diabetes, frailty and dementia. However, this knowledge has not been implemented into routine clinical practice because practical tools that allow a comprehensive nutrition assessment in the clinical care setting are missing and to date doctors are generally not educated to give nutritional advice to their patients. In this pilot project, we aim to push forward and enable the potential of nutrition as a core primary prevention strategy for people at risk of developing chronic diseases. This will be achieved by using as a stepping stone the electronic 216-food-item dietary assessment tool which our team developed for the DO-HEALTH study and tested in over 2’000 individuals. We want to extend this tool to also produce an immediate report, comparing it to the Mediterranean and MIND diet patterns and providing a patient’s intake of protein and other nutrients. The report will additionally indicate the patient’s diet-related personalized risks of cardio-vascular disease, diabetes, frailty and cognitive decline, and recommend dietary changes to reduce these risks.

DO-HEALTH COHORT
BACKGROUND and project rationale

The European population is rapidly aging and the number of older adults aged 70 and older is predicted to increase by 40% by 2030, as will the number of older adults with age-related chronic diseases. The growing number of older adults with age-related chronic diseases poses a challenge on European societies and health care systems. There is an increasing need for population-based longitudinal studies that can illuminate factors that contribute to healthy and independent aging.

The original DO-HEALTH trial (KEK-ZH-2012-0249) was a large, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multi-centre clinical trial that enrolled 2157 community-dwelling men and women 70 years and older to examine the individual and the combined benefit of 2000 IU vitamin D/day, 1 g of omega-3 fatty acids/day and a simple home exercise program (see https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01745263).

Community-based cohorts of comprehensively phenotyed older adults provide a unique opportunity to shed light on long-term determinants of healthy and independent aging. Thus, the DO-HEALTH cohort will be a continuation of the trial without intervention and will elucidate long-term determinants of healthy, active and independent aging in European community-dwelling older adults. The main emphasize of the cohort will be to determine the risk factors, to quantify the incidence and to describe the trajectories of incident frailty, impaired mobility, loss of independence and age related morbidity (e.g. heart arrhythmia, type 2 diabetes, falls, fractures). Additionally, the cohort will continue to investigate the primary endpoints of the original trial like the risk and incidence of injurious falls (bone); functional decline (muscle); high blood pressure (cardiovascular); cognitive decline (brain); and the rate of any infection (immunity). Moreover, the cohort will include and extend key secondary and exploratory endpoints of the original trial such as incidence and prevalence of anemia, sarcopenia, cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes and cancer. The DO-HEALTH cohort will take advantage of the established infrastructure, the validated procedures and the established contact with the DO-HEALTH trial participants.

Due to current funding limitation, only DO-HEALTH participants who were recruited at the study centers in Zurich and Basel will be included in the cohort at this point in time. Also the follow-up will not be the same for both centers. If additional funding becomes available, we plan to further extend the cohort to other study centers of DO-HEALTH.

The comprehensive phenotyping of the DO-HEALTH trial will be extended into the cohort including the collection on life style factors such as diet, quality of life and physical activity, as well as health-related data on co-morbid conditions as well as a standardized assessment of multiple organ functions, physical, cognitive and mental function using surveys and standardized health assessments. As in the DO-HEALTH trial, the data collection in the DO-HEALTH cohort entails minimal risks and burdens to the participants. Only well-established assessment tools, which are routinely used in clinical practice or have previously been used in the research setting among older adults, will be employed. Notably, most of the cohort assessments have already been used in the original DO-HEALTH trial.

Primary and secondary objectives

This project aims to elucidate long-term determinants of healthy, active and independent aging in community dwelling older adults living in Europe. The cohort will also gather information concerning the extended long-term effects of the three DO-HEALTH interventions (omega-3, vitamin D, and the simple home exercise program) on the primary and several secondary and exploratory endpoints of the original DO-HEALTH trial.  However, the main aim of the cohort is to study the trajectories of aging. Specifically, the cohort aims to determine the risk factors and early biomarkers for healthy and active aging and to describe the risk factors and early biomarkers of frailty, impaired mobility, loss of independence, institutionalization, all-cause hospitalization, age related morbidity (e.g. falls, heart arrhythmia, type 2 diabetes, fractures) and all-cause mortality. In addition, the cohort will explore risk factors that contribute to changes in quality of life, sleep quality, mental health and cognition (e.g., adherence to MIND diet, and anemia and iron deficiency to prevent or delay the further progression of cognitive decline.) Also, resilience and coping strategies related to the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on cognitive function and mental health will be investigated (integrated sub-study (DO-HEALTH cohort MINDful, see document “MINDful_ShortInformation_Ethics”)). Finally, the DO-HEALTH cohort will assess the impact of polypharmacy, individual medications, as well as therapeutic competition (drug-disease interaction) on the health of older adults based on outcomes such as cognitive health, health-related quality of life and frailty.

Primary, secondary, and biomarker endpoints

Primary endpoints:

The DO-HEALTH-Cohort will address 5 primary endpoints:

  1. Incidence of functional decline (muscle)
  2. Incidence of injurious falls (bone)
  3. Incidence of high blood pressure (cardiovascular)
  4. Incidence of cognitive decline (brain)
  5. Incidence of infections (immunity)

Secondary and exploratory endpoints:

The DO-HEALTH-Cohort will assess additional endpoints that support the primary endpoints and extend to other organ systems:

  1. Incidence and prevalence of frailty
  2. Incidence and prevalence of impaired mobility
  3. Incidence and prevalence of functional dependency
  4. Incidence and prevalence of anemia or iron deficiency (DO-HEALTHcohort and DO-HEALTHcohort-MINDful substudy)
  5. Incidence and prevalence of any cardiovascular disease
  6. Incidence and prevalence of heart arrhythmia
  7. Incidence and prevalence of atrial fibrillation
  8. Incidence and prevalence of heart failure, cardiomyopathy, heart valves abnormalities
  9. Incidence of stroke
  10. Incidence and prevalence of Type 2 diabetes
  11. Incidence and prevalence of dementia
  12. Incidence and prevalence of osteoarthritis
  13. Incidence and prevalence osteoporosis
  14. Incidence and prevalence of sarcopenia, osteosarcopenia
  15. Incidence and prevalence of any gastrointestinal disease
  16. Incidence and prevalence of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)
  17. Incidence and prevalence of any micronutrient deficiency (Vitamins, Minerals and fatty acids)
  18. Incidence and prevalence of knee buckling
  19. Incidence and prevalence of chronic pain
  20. Incidence and prevalence of subjective memory complaints
  21. Incidence and prevalence of hearing impairment
  22. Incidence and prevalence of depression (DO-HEALTHcohort and DO-HEALTHcohort-MINDful substudy)
  23. Incidence and prevalence insomnia
  24. Incidence and prevalence of chronic inflammation
  25. Incidence and prevalence of polypharmacy
  26. Incidence and prevalence of inappropriate medication prescription
  27. Incidence and prevalence of age related morbidity by individual drug use (e.g. Proton-Pump-Inhibitors, anticoagulants, benzodiazepines, antibiotics)
  28. Incidence and prevalence of malnutrition
  29. Incidence and prevalence of urinary incontinence
  30. Incidence and prevalence of impaired quality of life (DO-HEALTHcohort and DO-HEALTHcohort-MINDful substudy)
  31. Incidence and prevalence of functional decline
  32. Incidence of fractures
  33. Incidence of all-cause hospitalization
  34. Incidence, prevalence and trajectories of frequent health care utilization
  35. Incidence of nursing home placement
  36. Incidence of cancer (any cancer, gastro-intestinal, breast cancer in women, prostate cancer in men)
  37. Incidence of all-cause mortality
  38. Prevalence of MIND diet adherence (DO-HEALTHcohort-MINDful substudy)
  39. Prevalence and Incidence of Mild Cognitive impairment (DO-HEALTHcohort-MINDful substudy)
  40. Dual-tasking gait variability (DO-HEALTHcohort-MINDful substudy)
  41. Prevalence of confirmed Covid-19 cases (DO-HEALTHcohort-MINDful substudy)
  42. Prevalence of Covid-19 vaccinated participants (DO-HEALTHcohort-MINDful substudy)
  43. Prevalence of reported subjective cognitive decline (DO-HEALTHcohort-MINDful substudy)
  44. Covid-19 related resilience (DO-HEALTHcohort-MINDful substudy)
  45. Covid-19 related stress (DO-HEALTHcohort-MINDful)
  46. Covid-19 related coping behaviours (DO-HEALTHcohort-MINDful)

Biomarker Endpoints:

  1. Proteins: total protein, albumin, ferritin, soluble transferrin receptor
  2. Inflammation: hs-CRP, TNF-α, IL10, IL-8, IL-6, IL-1ß
  3. Blood count to assess hematologic abnormalities (RBC, Hb, WBC, Tc) with erythrocyte indices (MCV etc.), machine differential (Granuloc., lymphocyte) and reticulocytes.

Further biomarker endpoints will depend on the availability of further funding. If additional funding is secured, we plan to perform the same analyses as in the original DO-HEALTH trial. Thus, the same amount of blood as in the original DO-HEALTH trial (75 ml) will be collected at the annual visits in the DO-HEALTH-cohort, and stored in the DO-HEALTH biobank.

If additional funding becomes available, the following biomarkers will be additionally analyzed:

  1. Bone: Serum Calcium, Serum phosphate, 25(OH)D, intact PTH, urinary calcium/creatinine ratio (second spot urine), Beta-Crosslaps serum, P1NP, sclerostin
  2. Muscle: myostatin
  3. Cardiovascular: Troponin T, NT-proBNP, homocysteine, CK, cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, triglycerides
  4. Gastro-intestinal: ALT, AST, gGT, alkaline phosphatase, bilirubin
  5. Glucose-metabolic: fasting glucose, insulin
  6. Kidney: serum creatinine; creatinine urine; calcium urine; calcium/creatinine ratio in second spot urine, albumin urine, serum urea, uric acid
  7. Global Health: Ions: sodium, potassium, chloride, magnesium
  8. Hormones: TSH, fT4, fT3, cortisol
  9. Vitamins: folic acid, vitamin B12, 25(OH)D
  10. Post-trail adherence to Vitamin D an Omega-3: serum 25(OH)D measured by two methods (automated assay and gold standard HPLCMS/MS). Plasma PUFA concentrations (EPA, AA, DPA, DHA) measured by a sensitive and selective assay based on gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry detection (GC-MS).
  11. Whole genome and biomarker sequencing
  12. HLA typing
  13. Telomere length
  14. DNA methylation-based biomarkers: Horvath’s clock — 353 CpGs Multi-tissue DNAm age estimator, Hannum’s clock — 71 CpGs Single-tissue DNAm age estimator, Levine’s clock — 513, CpGs DNAm PhenoAge
  15. Metabolomic Analysis
Project design

This is a multicenter prospective cohort study that aims to elucidate long-term determinants of healthy, active and independent aging in European community dwelling older adults. The participants are offered a multi-stage study design with options, depending on the study center and the extent of participation.

In Zurich, this observational study will have semi-annual in-person follow-up visits alternating on-site and by phone. Alternatively, the participants can also choose the semi-annual in-person follow-up design by phone only (on-site visits replaced by phone interview) (see figure 1; A and B). Or they even can choose the one-time design. Here they have the option to choose between a one-time visit on-site (“baseline”) or a phone interview (see figure 2; A and B).

Follow-up period: At least one year (depends on the amount of the available funding). Since incidence of all-cause mortality is an important endpoint of the cohort, the aim is to extend the follow-up period until its full assessment, hence after the last participant has deceased.

Study population

Inclusion criteria:

  • Former participation in the DO-HEALTH clinical trial study

Exclusion criteria:

  • Inability or unwillingness to give written informed consent
  • Medical condition that would make the results of the tests/assessments unreliable and/or would put too much burden to the participant, and/or leads to safety concerns.
Study procedures
Study SiteZHZHBSZH/BS
Visiton-sitephone callon-sitephone interview
Blood withdrawal, spot urinex x 
Electrocardiography (ECG)x   
DXA:
Body composition (bone, fat and lean mass) (V0, V1, etc.)
x (every 12mt)   
DXA:
Bone mineral density (BMD) at the lumbar spine and hip (both sides) (V0, V2, etc.)
x (every 24mt)   
DXA:
vertebral morphometry / vertebral fracture assessment (VFA) (V0, V2, etc.)
x (every 24mt)   
Physical Examination:
– Current status of organs
– Vision
– Heart rate
x xx (only 4 vision questions)
Medical History:
– Height and weight
– important medical events
– health related events and healthcare utilization
– Post DO-HEALTH trial compliance
x xx (only Post DO-HEALTH trial compliance)
Medicationxxxx
– Medical events
– Falls
– Fractures
– Infections
x x 
Follow-up phone call data collection: shortened questionnaires about falls, fractures, infections, hospitalization and list of incident events x x
Cognitive assessment (MoCA)xx (only 4 orientation items)xx (only 4 orientation items)
Physical Test
– Short Physical Performance Battery
– Gait speed and repeated chair stand test
– Grip strength
x x 
Gait analyses incl. single and dual task assessment  x 
Hearing testx  x (only 4 questions)
Memory Complaints Questionnaire (MAC-Q)x x 
Quality of life (EQ5D-3L)x xx
Mental health, depression (GDS, excerpt)xx (short GDS)xx (short GDS)
Oral health (GOHAI)x x 
Musculoskeletal pain (McGill pain map)x x 
Joint mapx x 
Activities of daily living (PROMIS-HAQ)x x 
Frailty (SHARE-FI)xxxx
Gastro-intestinal symptoms (Rome III questionnaire)x x 
Physical activity (NHS, excerpt)xx (only question 5)xx (only question 5)
Comorbidities (Sangha’s instrument)x (V0 only) x 
Sunlight exposure questionnairex x 
Symptomatic osteoarthritis (knee, hip, and hand; joint map)
– knee buckling questionnaire
– KOOS
-HOOS
-QuikDash (excerpt)
x x 
Sleep quality (Insomnia Severity Index)x x 
International prostate symptom score (IPPS) – only for menx x 
Urinary Incontinence (QUID) – only for womenx x 
Subjective happiness scalex x 
ZAM Cognitive Activities Questionnairex x 
Diet assessment (FFQ) at cohort baseline (V0) and after three years onlyx (V0, V3, etc.) x 
Demographic information
– living situation
– community, friends, caregiver
– activities
xx (help with daily tasks)xx (help with daily tasks)
Covid-19 Pandemic Stress Scale (CPSS)x (next sche-duled event, only one time) xx (next sche-duled event only one time)
Brief Resilience Scale (BRS)x (next sche-duled event, only one time) xx (next sche-duled event only one time)
Pandemic Coping Scale (PCS)x (next sche-duled event, only one time) xx (next sche-duled event only one time)
Covid-19 experience and resilience:
Semi-structured interview (qualitative assessment – sub-set of participants)
x (next sche-duled event, only one time)  x (ZH only, next scheduled event, only one time)
PRECISION-AGE

Precision-Age received seed funding from the UZH Foundation via two foundations; fundraising is being pursued.

Precision-Age is a comprehensive research program of the Medical Research on Aging at the University of Zurich for people who already want to stay healthy and active longer. The goal is to fundamentally change medicine by using precision medicine solutions to slow the biological aging process via individually tailored preventive measures and reduce disease risks.  This approach is timely to promote the health of a growing number of older people and reduce the risks of age-related chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis, frailty and dementia.

The potential to use new precision medicine detection and measurement methods to slow biological aging could serve as a model for treating chronic age-related diseases and will put Zurich at the center of new clinical developments for early disease-modifying therapies. A unique lead in the development of precision medicine of biological aging, Precision Age leverages the comprehensive database and biobank of Europe’s largest aging study DO-HEALTH, led and coordinated at UZH. This stepping stone combined with excellence in various fields of medical research and technology through collaborations with leaders in their field, the Precision Age project has a high potential for an internationally visible pioneering role in precision medicine of the aging process and personalized prevention.

Future projects

ICOPE-based Prevention Trial

ICOPE–Function-Centered & Person-Centered Prevention Trial for Adults 70+ (ICOPE-Prevention-TRIAL)

is a large-scale prevention trial in collaboration with the IHU HealthAge Program in France. Funding has been submitted to the SNF (IICT call 2023), and the evaluation by the SNF is expected in June 2024. In 2015 the WHO (World Health Organization) published a report identifying six key functions that people value most: mobility, cognition, mental health, vision, hearing and nutrition/vitality. As a decline in one or more of these functions leads to reduced well-being and is associated with worse current and future health, the WHO developed the ‘Integrated Care for Older PEople’ (ICOPE) program to monitor and improve these functions. Initial feasibility studies have been conducted internationally with the largest European ICOPE Cohort recruited in Toulouse France (IHU HealthAge) with now close to 50’000 participants. The next step, as identified by the WHO, is to prove the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the program to prove that the ICOPE intervention prevents the decline in people’s functions to pave the way for its broad clinical application. If approved for funding, the ICOPE FUNC trial will start in 2024 and recruit 1600 adults age 70 and older, 800 in Switzerland and 800 as part of the IHU HealthAge program in Toulouse France.

IHU Health Age

What is the IHU HealthAge?
President Emmanuel Macron announced on May 16th, 2023 that the IHU HealthAge has been selected by the ANR (Research National Agency of France) to establish a leading European Translational Institute on Healthy Longevity and Geroscience headquatered in Toulouse. The IHU HealthAge will be launched officially on April 2nd 2024.

Vision IHU HealthAge?
The vision of HealthAge is to extend healthspan in the population by leveraging on the WHO ICOPE concept on monitoring and preserving six functions (mobility, cognition, mental health, vision, hearing, nutrition/vitality) in the whole population and by integrating new mechanistic knowledge on the biology of aging to identify pathways that protect function and should be targeted for intervention.

Who benefits from the IHU HealthAge?
HealthAge will improve the well-being of older adults, enhance social capital of a modern aging society, reduce health costs by helping people stay healthy and active longer, and position HealthAge at the forefront of health care innovation of tomorrow that reduces functional decline and gives access to healthy longevity in an exemplary way, accessible for all.

How is the IHU HealthAge linked to DO-HEALTH?
DO-HEALTH is one of the stepping stones of the IHU-HealthAge program. The DO-HEALTH biobank will support the testing of novel molecular and cellular biomarkers of aging identified in the HealthAge discovery program. Further Prof. Heike Bischoff-Ferrari, who is the PI of DO-HEALTH is the director of the IHU HealthAge program in collaboration with Prof. Bruno Vellas who also is the cite-PI of DO-HEALTH – Toulouse.