The Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA: https://www.clsa-elcv.ca/) is a large, national, long-term study that follows approximately 50,000 individuals between the ages of 45 and 85 when recruited.
The CLSA collects information on the changing biological, medical, psychological, social, lifestyle and economic aspects of people’s lives. Research suggests that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are significant risk factors for disparities in adult morbidity and mortality.
Using a biopsychosocial development framework, we have been funded by CIHR to examine the interconnections between early life stress, and the social, environmental, biological and psychological factors that impact health outcomes.
The underlying pathways linking ACEs to poor health outcomes is important, in order to characterize vulnerability to disease and design interventions aimed at preventing and/or delaying the onset multimorbidity.