Ancillary Studies

Several ancillary studies have been performed among subsamples of LASA participants to enrich the data from regular measurement waves, with the purpose to answer specific research questions. For example, a selection of respondents have been followed more regularly across a span of six years (1992-1998), because 3-yearly intervals were deemed too long to capture the natural course of depression.

Diversity of issues

Several other ancillary studies among selections of participants have focused on a diversity of issues, i.e., the structure and function of the social network and their network members, adaptation to widowhood in widowed participants, precursors and consequences of (recurrent) falling, family caregiving to older adults, god image, lifestyle factors, end of life, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, osteoarthritis, loneliness behavior, perceived control in health care, nutrition and food-related behavior, and predictors of hearing help-seeking behavior.

Although participation in one or more of these ancillary studies must have been burdensome to participants, we did not find indications that this has led to increased drop-out later on during follow-up by those who were included in them.

An overview of the ancillary studies conducted in LASA since 1992 is presented below.