Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Dr. DavId A. Snowdon Sanders-Brown Center on Aging University of Kentucky Chandler Medical Center.
ter on Aging is internationally rec- 103 years old when the study beognized for its research on the neu- gan, and the average age of the The Nun Study is a longitudinal ropathology of Alzheimers disease. participants was 85 years. Over 85 study of aging and Alzheimers dispercent of these participants were ease. It began in 1986 as a pilot teachers. Participants in the Nun study on aging and disability using Study include women representing data collected from the older School a wide range of function and health, Sisters of Notre Dame living in from sisters in their 90s who are Mankato, Minn. In 1990, the Nun highly functional with full-time jobs Study was expanded to include to sisters in their 70s who are seolder Notre Dames living in the verely disabled, unable to commumidwestern, eastern, and southern nicate, and bed-bound. regions of the United States. The goal of the Nun Study is to determine the causes and prevention of What are the participants Alzheimers disease, other brain required to do? diseases, and the mental and physi- How long will the study cal disability associated with old continue? Each of the 678 participants in the age. Nun Study agreed to participate in The Nun Study is an ongoing, one- annual assessments of their cogniof-a-kind resource for the study of tive and physical function, medical How is the study funded? brain diseases in the elderly. We exams, blood drawing for genetic expect that data, tissue, and genetic and nutritional studies, and brain doThe Nun Study is funded by the material collected in this study will nation at death for neuropathologic National Institute on Aging (one of be used by scientists for decades studies. The Nun Study represents the institutes within the National In- into the future. the largest brain donor population stitutes on Health). More than $2 in the world. In addition, the sisters million in federal tax dollars have have given investigators full access been invested so far in this study. What are the research to their convent and medical In addition, private foundations in- questions? records. cluding the Robert J. Kleberg, Jr. and Helen C. Kleberg Foundation The primary research question in in San Antonio, Texas, have given the Nun Study is What factors in What gems are buried significant financial support to this early, mid, and late life increase the in the convent archives? endeavor. risk of Alzheimers disease and other brain diseases such as The convent archives are particustroke? Other research questions larly useful in our study of When did the study begin? relate to the determinants of longev- Alzheimers disease because they ity and the quality of life in the eld- contain accurate risk factor data David Snowdon, Ph.D., and his col- erly. spanning the entire lifespan of the leagues at the University of Minn participants. Accurate information began a pilot study in 1986 using on early and mid-life risk factors is data collected from School Sisters Who participates difficult or impossible to obtain in of Notre Dame living in Mankato, in the study? most other studies on Alzheimers Minn. When Dr. Snowdon joined the disease because individuals with College of Medicine faculty at the Participants in the Nun Study are this memory disorder cannot accuUniversity of Kentucky in 1990, the American Roman Catholic sisters rately recall their history. The constudy was expanded to include older who are members of the School vent archives contain a wealth of Notre Dames throughout the United Sisters of Notre Dame, an interna- information including baptismal States. The Nun Study is housed tional religious congregation that records, birth certificates, socioecowithin the Sanders-Brown Center on began more than 150 years ago in nomic characteristics of the family, Aging at the University of Kentucky Bavaria, Germany. The 678 partici- education documentation, autobiogChandler Medical Center. The Cen- pants in the Nun Study were 75 to raphies written in early, mid, and late What is the Nun Study?