Around 150 people who are playing a key role in furthering our understanding of the ageing process are meeting at the University of Aberdeen this afternoon (Wednesday, November 15).
The group gathering at Elphinstone Hall were all born in 1936 and all sat an IQ test in 1947. They wouldn’t have realised it then, but that simple mental ability test – which was sat by every Scottish child born in 1936* - is helping Scottish mental health researchers enormously.
Scientists at the University of Aberdeen, in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh, have kept tabs on hundreds of people from that 1936 birth cohort. By carrying out follow up tests on the “class of ‘47”, the researchers are gaining great insights into ageing and brain function.
Their ultimate hope is that findings from their studies will pave the way for personalised medicine which could slow age related disorders like Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
The research in this area and other brain studies led by Lawrence Whalley, Professor of Mental Health at the University of Aberdeen, and Professor Ian Deary and Dr John Starr at the University of Edinburgh, are deemed so significant that the trio have just been hailed by a leading Scots charity.
Next month Tenovus Scotland will present the collaborators with the Margaret McLellan Award for their “seminal” contributions to our understanding of the loss of brain function and memory which occurs as we age. The Award is made every two years to what is deemed the best piece of research carried out in Scotland in a certain field.
Six years ago University of Aberdeen researchers began their study of people from the 1936 birth cohort. They tracked down 660 people from the North-east of Scotland who had taken the 1947 test and asked if they would like to help with their research.
A total of 508 people agreed to participate in the first study which involved completing mental and physical health and dietary questionnaires. They also had their blood taken, their weight, height and blood pressure measured and they completed a series of psychological tests which examined brain function.
Two years later, 370 people took part in a second round of similiar tests. Then again, in 2004, more than 300 took part in the third wave of tests. This time many were invited to have MRI scans to monitor brain function.
More than 80 also took part in separate functional MRI scans which involved them having their brain monitored as they performed a simple task while in the scanner for 45 minutes. This is thought to be the largest functional MRI experiment of its kind in the world.
Today’s gathering of 69 and 70 year olds who are from Aberdeen and the surrounding areas is a social occasion, ahead of the next round of testing which will begin shortly. The volunteers will sit at tables which will be arranged according to the primary school they attended when they sat the 1947 test eg Broomhill School, Ashley Road School etc.
This group will also hear short speeches from academics who have been involved in the research, which has so far resulted in the publication of around 70 scientific papers and chapters in books. Their research has included a number of findings such as smoking can impact on IQ in late mid life; childhood mental ability is a significant factor among the variables that predict age at death, and, in some people, fish oils can slow ageing of the brain.
Professor Lawrence Whalley, Professor in Mental Health, said: “Scotland is the only country in the world where we have childhood IQ results that are population based.
“Using the 1947 test as a baseline measure we are able to track the ageing and mental health process on our volunteers who are playing an absolute crucial role in furthering our understanding.
“Our research cohort are helping us chip away the puzzle as to why individuals age so differently.
“Detecting the different variables will lead to personalised medicine which is the Holy Grail of drug development in the modern era.
“If we can understanding more about the ageing process and how some people can withstand the worst that old age can do, then we can try to slow or prevent age related disorders in the less fortunate.”
* On June 4, 1947 ever Scottish schoolchild born in 1936 sat the same mental ability test. 70,805 children sat down at the same time and filled in the same test, which was organised by the Scottish Council for Research in Education, and was called the ‘Scottish Mental Survey’.