About the Study

The Busselton Healthy Ageing Study (BHAS) aims to collect important information about common diseases associated with ageing in adults.  The BHAS will collect detailed health, social, lifestyle and environmental information from a select sample of Busselton adults aged 45 to 64 (“Baby Boomers”). The information collected will help us understand the health of men and women and track their health and lifestyle throughout the ageing process.

 

In an attempt to support healthy ageing, modern biomedical science is increasingly focusing upon the causes, prevention and management of common complex diseases such as asthma, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. It is clear that all of the common human diseases are the result of multiple, interacting genetic and environmental factors. Such diseases are associated with significant long-term morbidity and mortality, and are major public health problems both in Australia and worldwide. Research capacity in epidemiology, genetic epidemiology, and population health for common diseases, and the concomitant clinical/public health impact, are currently limited by the paucity of large, well-characterised human population resources and by the availability of appropriately trained researchers. A critical current need in human epidemiological, clinical and genetics research into common diseases is for large, comprehensive, and longitudinal population-based resources, and the international community is now moving rapidly to develop these.

 

In Western Australia, the necessary infrastructure and resources to support the expansion of an outstanding population based resource already exist in Busselton. The Busselton Health Study is one of the longest running epidemiological research programs in the world, with cross-sectional surveys of adults listed on the electoral roll undertaken at intervals of three years from 1969 to 1981, with participation rates ranging from 64 to 91%. The BHS has produced a unique database of information spanning over 40 years related to respiratory and cardiovascular disease as well as risk factors, lifestyle and environmental variables, and human pedigree data. BHS data has already been used to investigate the epidemiology and genetics of many chronic diseases including asthma, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and autoimmune thyroid disease.

 

Aims:

The Busselton Healthy Ageing Study will continue the established tradition of a long-term health study of people living in the City of Busselton in WA. The study will collect data of epidemiological, clinical and genetic interest on a range of economically and clinically important conditions, including respiratory and cardiovascular disease, diabetes, eye and vision disorders, ear and hearing disorders, cognition and mental health, obesity and exercise physiology, and environmental and social determinants of health. The Busselton Healthy Ageing Study will build upon the Busselton Health Study both underpin and enhance the national health and medical research effort in Australia by systematically enabling a world-class resource for population health research and training.

 

A number of leading research teams from The University of Western Australia, Lions Eye Institute, Ear Science Institute Australia, Edith Cowan University, Curtin University, and other academic, governmental and hospital partners will be involved in the Busselton Healthy Ageing Study.