CLINICAL CORE

The Clinical Core will provide Projects 3 &4 with recruitment and phenotypic characterization of the study cohort. Offspring of parents with exceptional longevity (OPEL, n=600) and a matched control group with parents with usual survival (OPUS, n=600) will be enrolled in this longitudinal study. Newly recruited subjects will come from 2 sources: 1) co-enrollment of eligible Ashkenazi Jews from ongoing recruitment in the Einstein Aging Study and 2) a systematic sample of Ashkenazi Jews from the surrounding community. Baseline clinical evaluation of the study cohortwill include administration of questionnaires (comprehensive personal and family medical history, nutrition and activity questionnaires), neuropsychological testing, performance of physical assessment (anthropometries, body fat, ankle and brachial blood pressure, endothelial function and electrocardiogram), and collection of blood samples for biochemical and genetic analysis. Annual assessments will be conducted for ascertainment of CVD outcomes and follow-up cognitive testing. The Clinical Core will be responsible for the collection and distribution of blood samples to the appropriate laboratories for testing and will track and retrieve results for transmission to the Statistics and Data Management Core. The Core will also provide services such as scheduling visits, maintenance of accurate contact information for the cohort, as well as other retention activities.