Objective: To give an account of how a research programme in epidemiology at the NHMRC Social Psychiatry Research Unit developed, and an overview of work completed.
Data sources: General population samples of elderly persons; and persons clinically diagnosed as having Alzheimer's disease, or as being free of dementia.
Study selection: The studies undertaken include integrative analyses of published work; instrument development; cross-sectional and prospective longitudinal surveys of cognitive decline, dementia and depression in general population samples; and a case-control study of Alzheimer's disease.
Data synthesis: The data are of two types: continuous and categorical measures of morbidity; and measures of personal, social and biological attributes of the sample, including assessment of disablement and use of services. The findings have been both descriptive and analytic. New instruments developed are the Canberra Interview for the Elderly (CIE), the IQCODE and the Psychogeriatric Assessment Scales (PAS).
Conclusion: Beyond simple estimates of the prevalence of dementia, cognitive impairment and depression, we have focused mainly on aetiology and outcome in community samples. Unexpected opportunities have had a substantial influence on the direction of our work.