Mexican Health and Aging Study Biomarker and Genetic Data Profile

Abstract

The Mexican Health and Aging Study (MHAS) is one of the largest ongoing longitudinal studies of aging in Latin America, with six waves over 20 years. MHAS includes sociodemographic, economic, and health data from a nationally representative sample of adults 50 years and older in urban and rural Mexico. MHAS is designed to study the impact of diseases on adults’ health, function, and mortality. As Mexico is experiencing rapid population aging, providing adequate information to study this phenomenon is vital for designing and implementing public policies. The availability of biomarker and genetic data and longitudinal survey data elevates opportunities for research on aging in a low–middle-income country. This manuscript describes the profile of biomarkers and genetic data available in the MHAS study, including sample sizes and sociodemographic characteristics of participants who provided biospecimens for biomarker analyses, emphasizing recent genetic data. The sample size of individuals with anthropometric biomarkers was 2 707 (Wave 1—2001), 2 361 (Wave 2—2003), 2 086 (Wave 3—2012), and 2 051 (2016). Capillary blood samples were collected from 2 063 participants in 2012 (Wave 3) and 1 141 in 2016. Venous blood samples for blood-based biomarkers were collected from 2 003 participants in 2012 (Wave 3) and 752 in 2016. Venous blood samples were also collected for genetic data from 2 010 participants in 2012 (Wave 3) and 750 in 2016. A total of 7 821 participants provided saliva in 2018, and 2 671 provided hair in 2018. From these samples, a total of 7 204 have genome-wide genetic data, 8 600 have apolipoprotein-E genotype data, and 7 156 have genetic ancestry data.