Cohort profile: follow-up of a Berlin Aging Study II (BASE-II) subsample as part of the GendAge study

Ilja Demuth; Verena Banszerus; Johanna Drewelies; Sandra Düzel; Ute Seeland; Dominik Spira; Esther Tse; Julian Braun; Elisabeth Steinhagen-Thiessen; Lars Bertram; Andreas Thiel; Ulman Lindenberger; Vera Regitz-Zagrosek; Denis Gerstorf; Additional BASE-II/GendAge investigators

doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2020-045576

Cohort profile: follow-up of a Berlin Aging Study II (BASE-II) subsample as part of the GendAge study

BMJ Open. 2021 Jun 23;11(6):e045576. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-045576.

Authors

Ilja Demuth^{1

2}, Verena Banszerus³, Johanna Drewelies⁴, Sandra Düzel⁵, Ute Seeland^{6

7}, Dominik Spira³, Esther Tse⁸, Julian Braun^{9

10}, Elisabeth Steinhagen-Thiessen³, Lars Bertram^{11

12}, Andreas Thiel^{9

10}, Ulman Lindenberger^{5

13}, Vera Regitz-Zagrosek^{7

8

14}, Denis Gerstorf⁴; Additional BASE-II/GendAge investigators

Collaborators

Additional BASE-II/GendAge investigators:
Nikolaus Buchmann, Peter Eibich, Friederike Kendel, Maximilian König, Christina M Lill, Maike Mangold, Ahmad Tauseef Nauman, Kristina Norman, Graham Pawelec, Sarah Toepfer, Valentin Max Vetter, Gert G Wagner, Ursula Wilkenshoff, Kilian Wistuba-Hamprecht

Affiliations

¹ Department of Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases (including Division of Lipid Metabolism), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany ilja.demuth@charite.de.
² BCRT - Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies, Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
³ Department of Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases (including Division of Lipid Metabolism), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
⁴ Department of Psychology, Humboldt University of Berlin, Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
⁵ Center for Lifespan Psychology, Max-Planck-Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany.
⁶ Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health; Institute of Social Medicine, Epidemiology and Health Economics, Berlin, Germany.
⁷ DZHK (German Centre for Cardiovascular Research), Partner site Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
⁸ Berlin Institute for Gender in Medicine, Charite Universitatsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
⁹ Si-M / "Der Simulierte Mensch" a science framework of Technische, Universitat Berlin andCharité - Universitatsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
¹⁰ Regenerative Immunology and Aging, BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies, Charité Universitatsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
¹¹ Lübeck Interdisciplinary Platform for Genome Analytics, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany.
¹² Center for Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition (LCBC), Dept of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
¹³ Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, Berlin, Germany.
¹⁴ Department of Cardiology, University Hospital Zürich, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.

Abstract

Purpose: The study 'Sex- and gender-sensitive prevention of cardiovascular and metabolic disease in older adults in Germany', the GendAge study, focuses on major risk factors for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases and on the development of major outcomes from intermediate phenotypes in the context of sex and gender differences. It is based on a follow-up examination of a subsample (older group) of the Berlin Aging Study II (BASE-II).

Participants: The GendAge study assessments took place between 22 June 2018 and 10 March 2020. A total of 1100 participants (older BASE-II subsample, aged ≥65 years) with baseline data assessed at least by one of the BASE-II partner sites were investigated in the follow-up. These participants had a mean age of 75.6 years (SD ±3.8), with a mean follow-up at 7.4 years (SD ±1.5).

Findings to date: Data from different domains such as internal medicine, geriatrics, immunology and psychology were collected, with a focus on cardiometabolic diseases and in the context of sex and gender differences. Diabetes mellitus type 2 was reported by 15.6% and 8.6% of men and women, respectively. In contrast, this disease was diagnosed in 20.7% of men and 13.3% of women, indicating that a substantial proportion of almost 30% was unaware of the disease. Echocardiography revealed that left ventricular ejection fraction was higher in women than in men, in agreement with previous reports.

Future plans: A gender questionnaire assessing sociocultural aspects implemented as part of the follow-up described here will allow to calculate a gender score and its evaluation based on the newly collected data. At the same time, the other BASE-II research foci established over the past 10 years will be continued and strengthened by the BASE-II transition into a longitudinal study with follow-up data on the older subsample.

Trial registration number: DRKS00016157.

Keywords: general medicine (see Internal Medicine); geriatric medicine; public health; vascular medicine.

Publication types

Observational Study
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Aged
Aging*
Berlin
Female
Follow-Up Studies
Germany / epidemiology
Humans
Longitudinal Studies
Male
Risk Factors
Stroke Volume
Ventricular Function, Left*

Associated data

DRKS/DRKS00016157