Betula Study
- The main objectives of Betula study are:
- To study how memory functions change during adult life and old age;
- To identify risk factors for dementia;
- To identify early preclinical signs of dementia.
- Start Year
- 1988
- End Year
- 2014
- Supplementary Information
-
Nilsson, L.-Gör., Bäckman, L., Erngrund, K., et al. The Betula Prospective Cohort Study: Memory, Health, and Aging. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition,1997; 4(1), 1–32.
Visit Betula
| Investigators | Contacts |
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Design
- Study design
- Cohort
- Follow Up
- The participants were assessed at 6 different time points every 5 years: in 1988-1990, 1993-1995, 1998-2000, 2003-2005, 2008-2010 and 2013-2014.
- Supplementary Information
Marker Paper
Nilsson L-G, Adolfsson R, Bäckman L, de Frias C, Molander B, Nyberg L. Betula: A Prospective Cohort Study on Memory, Health and Aging. Aging, Neuropsychology and Cognition,2004; 11 (2-3), 134-148.
Recruitment
- Sources of Recruitment
-
- Individuals
Number of participants
- Number of participants
- 4,425
- Number of participants with biosamples
- 4,300
- Supplementary Information
Access
Availability of data and biosamples
| Possible Access to Data | |
| Possible Access to Biosamples | |
| Other |
A sub-sample of participants underwent MRI brain scanning at test wave 5 (2009-2010) and 6 (2013-2014).
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Supplementary Information
1. Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory Based on: (ZTPI) Zimbardo o. Boyds skala (Zimbardo, P., and Boyd, J. N. (1999). Used in Betula: Carelli, M. G., Wiberg, B., & Wiberg, M. (2011). Development and Construct Validation of the Swedish Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 27(4), 220–227. https://doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759/a000076
2. Patient Health Questionnaire-9 Based on: Kroenke, K., Spitzer, RL. & Willimas, JB. (2001). The PHQ-9: validity of a brief depression severity measure. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 16(9), 606-613. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1525-1497.2001.016009606.x Used in Betula: translated version.
3. Perceived Stress Questionnaire Based on: Levenstein S, Prantera C, Varvo V, Scribano ML, Berto E, Luzi C, Andreoli A. Development of the Perceived Stress Questionnaire: a new tool for psychosomatic research. J Psychosom Res 1993;37:19–32. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-3999(93)90120-5.
Bergdahl, J., and Bergdahl, M. (2002). Perceived stress in adults: prevalence and association of depression, anxiety and medication in a Swedish population. Stress Health 18, 235–241. doi: 10.1002/smi.946 Used in Betula: translated version.
4. Seasonal Pattern Assessment Questionnaire Based on: Rosenthal, NE., Sack, DA., Gillin, JC., Lewy AJ., Goodwin, FK., Davenport, Y., Mueller, PS., Newsome, DA. & Wehr, TA. (1984). Seasonal affective disorder. A description of the syndrome and preliminary findings with light therapy. Arch Gen Psychiatry, 41(1), 72-80. https://doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.1984.01790120076010 Used in Betula: translated version
Timeline
Populations
Selection Criteria
- Minimum age
-
35
- Maximum age
-
80
- Newborns
- Twins
- Countries
-
- Sweden
- Territory
- Municipality of Umeå, Västerbotten
- Ethnic Origin
-
- Health Status
-
- Other criteria
- When participants entered the study, they were excluded if they had a severe visual or auditory disability, intellectual disability, dementia or a native language other than Swedish.
Recruitment
- Sources of recruitment
-
- General population
- General Population
-
- Selected sample
Number of participants
- Number of participants
- 1,000
- Number of participants with biosamples
- Supplementary Information
-
T1: 1000 participants
T2: 875 participants
T3: 729 participants
T4: 591 participants
T5: 403 participants
T6: 249 participants
Data Collection Events
| # | Name | Description | Start | End |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 |
Betula - Cohort 1 - T1
|
At each data collection time point, participants came to the Betula lab twice. The first visit consisted primarily of an extensive health examination and the second visit consisted mainly of ... |
1988-11 | 1991-04 |
| 1 |
Betula - Cohort 1 - T2
|
At Testwave 2 (T2), participants from Sample 1 (S1) returned for testing and those samples 2 (S2) and 3 (S3), were randomly selected and invited. At each data collection time point, ... |
1993-09 | 1995-09 |
| 2 |
Betula - Cohort 1 - T3
|
At Testwave 3 (T3) participants from Samples S1, S2 and S3 returned for testing while another sample, S4, was randomly selected and invited to participate. At each data collection time ... |
1998-09 | 2001-03 |
| 3 |
Betula - Cohort 1 - T4
|
At Testwave 4 (T4) participants from samples S1 and S3 returned for testing while another sample, S5, was randomly selected and invited to participate. At each data collection time ... |
2003-09 | 2005-11 |
| 4 |
Betula - Cohort 1 - T5
|
At T5 participants from S1 and S3 returned for testing. At this test wave, another sample, S6, was randomly selected and invited. At each data collection time point, participants came ... |
2008-10 | 2010-03 |
| 5 |
Betula - Cohort 1 - T6
|
At Testwave 6 (T6) participants from S1, S3, and S6 returned for testing. At each data collection time point, participants came to the Betula lab twice. The first visit consisted ... |
2013-09 | 2014-07 |
Selection Criteria
- Minimum age
-
35
- Maximum age
-
80
- Newborns
- Twins
- Countries
-
- Sweden
- Territory
- Municipality of Umeå, Västerbotten
- Ethnic Origin
-
- Health Status
-
- Other criteria
- When participants entered the study, they were excluded if they had a severe visual or auditory disability, intellectual disability, dementia or a native language other than Swedish.
Recruitment
- Sources of recruitment
-
- General population
- General Population
-
- Selected sample
Number of participants
- Number of participants
- 994
- Number of participants with biosamples
- Supplementary Information
-
T1: 994 participants
T2: 681 participants
Data Collection Events
| # | Name | Description | Start | End |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 |
Betula - Cohort 2 - T1
|
At each data collection time point, participants came to the Betula lab twice. The first visit consisted primarily of an extensive health examination and the second visit consisted mainly of ... |
1993-09 | 1995-09 |
| 1 |
Betula - Cohort 2 - T2
|
At each data collection time point, participants came to the Betula lab twice. The first visit consisted primarily of an extensive health examination and the second visit consisted mainly of ... |
1998-09 | 2001-03 |
Selection Criteria
- Minimum age
-
40
- Maximum age
-
84
- Newborns
- Twins
- Countries
-
- Sweden
- Territory
- Municipality of Umeå, Västerbotten
- Ethnic Origin
-
- Health Status
-
- Other criteria
- When participants entered the study, they were excluded if they had a severe visual or auditory disability, intellectual disability, dementia or a native language other than Swedish.
Recruitment
- Sources of recruitment
-
- General population
- General Population
-
- Selected sample
Number of participants
- Number of participants
- 963
- Number of participants with biosamples
- Supplementary Information
-
T1: 963 participants
T2: 826 participants
T3: 689 participants
T4: 440 participants
T5: 259 participants
Data Collection Events
| # | Name | Description | Start | End |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 |
Betula - Cohort 3 - T1
|
At each data collection time point, participants came to the Betula lab twice. The first visit consisted primarily of an extensive health examination and the second visit consisted mainly of ... |
1993-09 | 1995-09 |
| 1 |
Betula - Cohort 3 - T2
|
At each data collection time point, participants came to the Betula lab twice. The first visit consisted primarily of an extensive health examination and the second visit consisted mainly of ... |
1998-09 | 2001-03 |
| 2 |
Betula - Cohort 3 - T3
|
At each data collection time point, participants came to the Betula lab twice. The first visit consisted primarily of an extensive health examination and the second visit consisted mainly of ... |
2003-09 | 2005-11 |
| 3 |
Betula - Cohort 3 - T4
|
At each data collection time point, participants came to the Betula lab twice. The first visit consisted primarily of an extensive health examination and the second visit consisted mainly of ... |
2008-10 | 2010-03 |
| 4 |
Betula - Cohort 3 - T5
|
At each data collection time point, participants came to the Betula lab twice. The first visit consisted primarily of an extensive health examination and the second visit consisted mainly of ... |
2013-09 | 2014-07 |
Selection Criteria
- Minimum age
-
35
- Maximum age
-
90
- Newborns
- Twins
- Countries
-
- Sweden
- Territory
- Municipality of Umeå, Västerbotten
- Ethnic Origin
-
- Health Status
-
- Other criteria
- When participants entered the study, they were excluded if they had a severe visual or auditory disability, intellectual disability, dementia or a native language other than Swedish.
Recruitment
- Sources of recruitment
-
- General population
- General Population
-
- Selected sample
Number of participants
- Number of participants
- 553
- Number of participants with biosamples
- Supplementary Information
- T1: 553 participants
Data Collection Event
At each data collection time point, participants came to the Betula lab twice. The first visit consisted primarily of an extensive health examination and the second visit consisted mainly of testing cognitive functions.
The questionnaires collected information about health status, subjective health, physical and mental symptoms (heart pain, back pain, stomach pain, difficulties in sleeping, feelings of loneliness, anxiety), health care consumption, use of prescribed medication, explorations of daily living, leisure activities, critical life events, and other social and economic factors.
The cognitive functions testing included examination of episodic and prospective memory (face and name recognition, action memory, sentence memory, word recall with or without a distractor task, source recall and memory for activities), semantic memory (general knowledge questions, vocabulary test, four-word fluency test) and unconscious forms of memory (one word-stem completion task, four-word fluency test).
Physical measures (blood pressure, pulse rate, sensory function) were taken.
Biosamples collection (blood and urine sample) were taken as well.
- Start Date
-
1998-09
- End Date
-
2001-03
- Data sources
-
- Questionnaires
- Cognitive measures
- Physical measures
- Biosamples
- Data sources - Biosamples
-
- Blood
- Urine
Selection Criteria
- Minimum age
-
35
- Maximum age
-
95
- Newborns
- Twins
- Countries
-
- Sweden
- Territory
- Municipality of Umeå, Västerbotten
- Ethnic Origin
-
- Health Status
-
- Other criteria
- When participants entered the study, they were excluded if they had a severe visual or auditory disability, intellectual disability, dementia or a native language other than Swedish.
Recruitment
- Sources of recruitment
-
- General population
- General Population
-
- Selected sample
Number of participants
- Number of participants
- 558
- Number of participants with biosamples
- Supplementary Information
- T1: 558 participants
Data Collection Event
At each data collection time point, participants came to the Betula lab twice. The first visit consisted primarily of an extensive health examination and the second visit consisted mainly of testing cognitive functions.
The questionnaires collected information about health status, subjective health, physical and mental symptoms (heart pain, back pain, stomach pain, difficulties in sleeping, feelings of loneliness, anxiety), health care consumption, use of prescribed medication, explorations of daily living, leisure activities, critical life events, and other social and economic factors.
The cognitive functions testing included examination of episodic and prospective memory (face and name recognition, action memory, sentence memory, word recall with or without a distractor task, source recall and memory for activities), semantic memory (general knowledge questions, vocabulary test, four-word fluency test) and unconscious forms of memory (one word-stem completion task, four-word fluency test).
Physical measures (blood pressure, pulse rate, sensory function) were taken.
Biosamples collection (blood, saliva and urine sample) were taken as well.
- Start Date
-
2003-09
- End Date
-
2005-11
- Data sources
-
- Questionnaires
- Cognitive measures
- Physical measures
- Biosamples
- Data sources - Biosamples
-
- Blood
- Urine
- Saliva
Selection Criteria
- Minimum age
-
25
- Maximum age
-
80
- Newborns
- Twins
- Countries
-
- Sweden
- Territory
- Municipality of Umeå, Västerbotten
- Ethnic Origin
-
- Health Status
-
- Other criteria
- When participants entered the study, they were excluded if they had a severe visual or auditory disability, intellectual disability, dementia or a native language other than Swedish.
Recruitment
- Sources of recruitment
-
- General population
- General Population
-
- Selected sample
Number of participants
- Number of participants
- 357
- Number of participants with biosamples
- Supplementary Information
-
T1: 357 participants
T2: 66 participants
Data Collection Events
| # | Name | Description | Start | End |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 |
Betula - Cohort 6 - T1
|
At each data collection time point, participants came to the Betula lab twice. The first visit consisted primarily of an extensive health examination and the second visit consisted mainly of ... |
2008-10 | 2010-03 |
| 1 |
Betula - Cohort 6 - T2
|
At each data collection time point, participants came to the Betula lab twice. The first visit consisted primarily of an extensive health examination and the second visit consisted mainly of ... |
2013-09 | 2014-07 |