The FINE study
In the second phase of the Seven Countries Study, which started in 1984, not only was information collected about cardiovascular risk factors but also on the physical, mental and social aspects of healthy aging. Four field surveys were carried out every five years in the elderly men from Finland, The Netherlands, and Italy. They formed the Finland Italy Netherlands Elderly study (FINE) that was supported by the National Institute of Aging from the US with Aulikki Nissinen as Principal Investigator and Alessandro Menotti and Daan Kromhout as co-Principal Investigators. Similar surveys also were carried out in Serbia and in Crete.
Elderly populations and additional measurements
Men aged 65-84 were enrolled from Finland (N=716), the Netherlands (N=887) and Italy (N=682). They were survivors of cohorts studied for 25 years within the Seven Countries Study. The cardiovascular surveys were extended to better characterize the health status of elderly men to include leisure-time physical activity, physical performance measures, activities of daily living, and indicators of mental health (e.g. depression, cognitive function), social health (e.g. loneliness) and self-rated health in general. These elderly men have been followed for mortality for 25 years.
Other studies on healthy aging:
The HALE project
The HALE project (Healthy aging: a Longitudinal study in Europe) started in 2001 as an extension of three longitudinal studies: the Seven Countries Study, the Finland Italy Netherlands Elderly (FINE) Study and the Survey Europe on Nutrition in the Elderly: a Concerted Action study (SENECA).
The Zutphen Elderly Study
The Zutphen Elderly Study is an extention of the original Zutphen Study with a sample of the same age. The Zutphen Elderly Study was the only cohort of the FINE study and the HALE project in which detailed information on diet of all participants was collected four times between 1985 and 2000.