Copenhagen Aging and Midlife Biobank (CAMB)

CAMB is a database established to contribute new knowledge on the life course determinants of health and early aging in mid- and late life, designed with particular emphasis on the earlier stages of the aging process.



 

 

 

 

 

CAMB is the only Danish Ageing Cohort study following participants (born in 1948-61) across a life span with comprehensive measures of early ageing in midlife and including life course information on a wide range of factors.

CAMB is an independent database collected from 2009 to 2011. In the spring of 2021 new survey data were collected among all original cohort members. The subjects previously participated in earlier established cohort studies with data on the first half of life: Metropolit Project (MP, born 1953), the Copenhagen Perinatal Cohort (CPC, born 1959-1961) or the Danish Longitudinal Study on Work, Unemployment and Health (DALWUH, born 1948–49 and 1958–59). In 2009-11, the participants were invited to a health assessment at the National Research Centre for the Working Environment.

In total, 17,937 cohort members from the Eastern parts of Denmark (aged 49-61 years) were invited to participate in the CAMB 2009-2011 study (MP: 7,750, CPC: 5,282, and DALWUH: 4,906); 7,191 (40%) (4,954 men and 2,234 women) completed a postal questionnaire covering psychosocial, behavioral, health-related and social variables and 5,576 (31%) (3,819 men and 1,754 women) in addition participated in a clinical examination as well as physical and cognitive tests. Non-fasting blood samples were collected and analyzed for low grade inflammation, standard lipid and glucose profiles. From each participant, several samples of plasma, serum, and DNA were stored in a research bio-bank for future use. 

In total, 24,133 cohort members (aged 59-73 years) were invited to participate in the CAMB 2021 study; 9,553 (39.58%) (6,244 men and 3,309 women) completed the questionnaire, which follows up on many of the same topics covered in the CAMB survey from 2009-2011 (for further information please see ‘Data’). A total of 4,286 people completed both CAMB questionnaires (2009-2011 and 2021).

Linking CAMB to national registers provide outstanding possibilities to study the importance of pre- and perinatal factors, factors in childhood and early adulthood for early signs of aging in late midlife. As such it serves a unique resource for the study of how the Danish population is ageing and for the identification of factors across the life course that candidates for the prevention of accelerated aging.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CAMB 2021

The questionnaire follows up on many of the same topics covered in the CAMB-survey from 2009-2011, namely questions about physical health, well-being, early sign of disability, oral health status, work-ability, vocational education, labor market attachment, social relations, health behavior, sleep, life events and measures of mental health. Questions about living conditions, indoor climate, menopause, sexual life, drug use, diet, hostility and self-rated social position were left out and questions regarding health literacy, anxiety, fertility, family formation, fatigue as an early marker of disability, falls, retirement and early pension, volunteer work, night work, hearing and vision impairment, early markers of cognitive function, caregiving and caregiving stress, quality of life and covid-19 were added in the 2021 survey. As participants were slowly moving into late midlife a special emphasis were given to questions about the transition to retirement including pension considerations and previous and present labor market attachment.

CAMB 2009-2011

Clinical Examinations

The clinical examinations included measurements of height, weight, waist measurements, fat percentage, blood pressure, spirometry (lung function test), muscle strength, maximal muscle force, flexibility in lower back, functional test (chair rise, balance test). Aerobic capacity was measured in a subsample

Questionnaire

The questionnaire included questions about health, use of medicine, early signs of disability, fatigue, socioeconomic status, work-ability, work life history, social relations, social capital, health behavior, sleep, life events, and indoor climate. Measures of mental health included questions on depression, hostility, personality, mental distress and psychopathological symptoms and Schizotypical Personality Disorder in a subsample.

Blood tests

The analysed blood tests include data on hemoglobin, blood sugar, HbA1c, total cholesterol, fractioned lipid profile, and hsCRP, and cytokines in the blood, acute phase proteins, other proteins in the blood and polymorphisms in inflammatory genes. The specific low-grade inflammation markers include TNF-alfa, IL-1beta, IL-18, IL-6, IFN-gamma, IL-10 and IL-1 auto antibodies. The remaining blood has been stored in a research biobank for future research projects

Cognitive function

Cognitive function was assessed with the Intelligenz-Struktur-Test (I-S-T 200R).

Oral health

Data on oral health was obtained by a dental examination and items from the questionnaire.

List of variables

A list of variables can be sent by request to data manager Drude Molbo, drmo@sund.ku.dk or project coordinator Bodil Marie Holst, bodil.holst@sund.ku.dk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The steering committee of CAMB welcomes collaboration and the interest of national and international colleagues.

Researchers who want to use data from CAMB or conduct new studies of CAMB subjects based on the CAMB database must send a preliminary request to the PI of CAMB Rikke Lund, rilu@sund.ku.dk with cc to the research programme coordinator Bodil Marie Holst, bodil.holst@sund.ku.dk.
If accepted, the researchers must, as stated above, submit an application which includes the ‘Collaboration Agreement form’, a list of variables and a short research protocol. The research protocol must include the following:

  1. Title of project
  2. Background (including relevant references)
  3. Aim
  4. Exact description of the data needed
  5. CAMB data and previous data, if required
    - Identifiable +/- biological material
    - Selection of subject
    - Register dat
  6. Description of biological material (type, amount) – if relevant
  7. Description of the acquisition of new data including biological material and register data- if relevant
  8. Plan for analyses. If the project includes analyses of biological material, a detailed protocol must be submitted of the parameters to be analysed, the methods to be used and how much material will be used. In the collaboration agreement, the principal investigator of the project must commit to returning excess biological material to CAMB. Similarly, new data generated from biological material or new derived variables, must be submitted to the CAMB database. Such data may be incorporated in the database and made available to other users.

The project must comply with the protocol, and new studies based on the data acquired and/or biological material may not proceed without the permission of the CAMB steering committee.

(Projects that wish to analyse biological material or obtain register data, which CAMB does not already have permissions for, must obtain the necessary permissions. In this connection, it is requested that specific permission is obtained to return the new data to the CAMB database or the Folkesundhedsdatabasen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The unique research infrastructure provides possibilities for numerous future projects based on the existing data including the register linkage. There is also great potential in the extended use of the biological material of the Biobank

It is a top priority for the steering committee to obtain funding for another clinical examination round, now while the participants are moving into retirement.

The possibility to include the cohort members children for cross generational studies is also of great scientific value.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Portræt af Rikke Lund

Group Leader

Rikke Lund
Professor
Email: rilu@sund.ku.dk
Phone: +45 35327992

Portræt af Charlotte Juul Nilsson

CO-PI

Charlotte Juul Nilsson
Associate professor
Email: cjni@sund.ku.dk
Phone: +45 35 32 71 22

Project Coordinator

Bodil Marie Holst
Email: bodil.holst@sund.ku.dk
Phone: +45 35332978

Data administrator

Drude Molbo
Email: drmo@sund.ku.dk
Phone: +45 35326736

Steering committee