Illustrative portrait of an older woman seated at a kitchen table beside a window

Methods · Data access

Newcastle 85+ Study

One place to plan a data request, find the study documentation and get up to speed on the evidence.

Professor Dame Louise Robinson is Principal Investigator. Andrew Kingston is a Co-Investigator and Chair of the Data Guardians Group.

Open official application Explore the data

Illustrative image — not a study participant.

Why this page

A practical front door to a rich cohort

The Newcastle 85+ Study began in 2006 and recruited more than 1,000 people born in 1921 from Newcastle and North Tyneside. It combines multidimensional health assessments, general-practice record review, function tests, biological measures and long-term follow-up.

This guide does not replace the official Newcastle University study website. It gives prospective data users a shorter route through it: what to read, where to find measures, what to put in an application and who to contact when something is unclear.

01 · Apply

Apply for study data

Start with the official collaboration agreement, then use the official guidance and resource map below to make the request specific.

Official Word form · Newcastle University

Newcastle 85+ Study Collaboration Agreement

The application asks for the project background, aims, methods, named collaborators, exact phases and variables, dissemination plan, data-access period and signatures.

Open the official application ↗

Current study contact

For current submission and data-access enquiries, contact the Newcastle 85+ Study team:

n85.plus.enquiries@newcastle.ac.uk

Official data requests page ↗

Official companion guidance · Newcastle University Outline of application for study data Open the November 2018 process guide on the official study website.

Open official guidance ↗

Worked example PDF · Fictional project See what a specific, complete data request looks like Illustrative answers are shown in red on the historic form. Do not submit this example; always use the current official application above.

View completed example PDF ↗

1
Define the question
State one primary question, why it matters and the proposed output.
2
Map it to the cohort
Identify the population, phases, exposure, outcome and essential covariates.
3
Check every measure
Use the phase overview and schedules; record the source and wording of each item.
4
Make the analysis credible
Plan for repeated measures, attrition, death, missingness and realistic sample size.
5
Confirm governance
Ask about current charges and any extra requirements for mortality or external access.
6
Complete and submit
Fill every section and confirm the current submission route with the study team.

02 · Find

Find the right data and documentation

Use the overview first, then inspect the actual questionnaire or record-review schedule for each phase you plan to request.

Start here · PDF What was collected across phases 1–5? Questionnaire sections, function tests, blood assays, GP record review and mortality. Study design Timeline and research activity Orient yourself to the longitudinal structure before choosing waves. Sample Recruitment profile Understand who entered the cohort and the routes into health assessment and record review. Research governance Protocols, consent and recruitment documents Supporting material on capacity, care-home recruitment, consent and participant contact.

Questionnaires & record reviews

Open the schedule for each phase

All research documents ↗

Phase 1 Baseline Interviews 1–3, weight and bloods, GP record review Phase 2 18 months Interviews 1–2, weight and bloods Phase 3 36 months Interviews 1–2, weight and bloods, GP record review Phase 4 60 months Interview schedule and GP record review Phase 5 120 months Interview schedule, GP record review and participant documents

Data access Official data requests page ↗ Governance Data Guardians Group ↗ Governance Terms of reference ↗ Participants Fair processing statement ↗ Contact Study contact information ↗ Evidence Full official publications list ↗

03 · Read

Key papers, grouped by research theme

Begin with the four foundations, then follow the theme closest to your question. Cross-links show where a paper also informs another application area.

Foundations Disability & care Medicines Frailty & cognition Nutrition & biomarkers Services & social life

A · Read these first

Study foundations

Design, cohort, recruitment and retention—the context every analysis needs.

2007
The Newcastle 85+ Study: biological, clinical and psychosocial factors associated with healthy ageing—study protocol
The original aims, sampling frame, assessment plan and longitudinal design.

DesignProtocol
2009
Health and disease in 85 year olds: baseline findings from the Newcastle 85+ cohort study
The essential portrait of recruitment, representativeness, disease and function at baseline.

BaselineMultimorbidity
2010
Engaging the oldest old in research: lessons from the Newcastle 85+ Study
Why inclusion, capacity, care homes and careful fieldwork matter to interpretation.

RecruitmentConsentSocial context
2014
Improving retention of very old participants in longitudinal research
How follow-up was sustained and what attrition means for longitudinal analyses.

RetentionMissing data

B · Function over time

Disability, dependency & care

Cross-links: medicines, multimorbidity, housing and services.

2011
Capability and dependency in the Newcastle 85+ cohort study: projections of future care needs
A core account of independence, interval-need dependency and care demand.

DependencyCare services
2012
Losing the ability in activities of daily living in the oldest old
The hierarchical disability scale and the ordering of loss across 17 activities.

ADLMeasurement
2014
The contribution of diseases to the male–female disability–survival paradox in the very old
A multistate analysis connecting disease, disability, survival and sex differences.

Multistate modelSex differences
2015
The enduring effect of education—socioeconomic differences in disability trajectories from age 85
Life-course inequality and mortality-adjusted trajectories of disability.

InequalityTrajectories
2022
Multimorbidity and mobility disability-free life expectancy in adults aged 85 and over
Ten-year transitions and remaining life expectancy free from mobility disability.

MultimorbidityHealth expectancy

C · Treatment burden

Polypharmacy & medicines

Cross-links: dependency, frailty and mortality, primary care.

2021
Characterising polypharmacy in the very old
Prevalence, medication combinations and social patterning at age 85.

PrescribingInequality
2022
Prescribing at 95 years of age: cross-sectional findings
A rare look at medication use among participants who reached age 95.

Age 95Primary care
2022
Is polypharmacy associated with mortality in the very old?
Eleven-year survival analysis using medication exposure over time.

MortalityFrailty
2022
Does polypharmacy shape dependency transitions in the very old?
Connects medicine count to movement between dependency states.

DependencyMultistate model
2023
Is polypharmacy associated with difficulty taking medicines in people aged 85 and over living at home?
Links prescribing burden to the practical work of managing medicines.

Medication managementFunction

D · Complex ageing

Frailty, multimorbidity & cognition

Cross-links: mobility and disability, nutrition, hospital use.

2018
Longitudinal changes in global and domain-specific cognitive function in the very old
Five-year change in memory, attention, speed and global cognition.

CognitionLongitudinal
2019
Frailty, hospital use and mortality in the older population
Rockwood frailty, hospital use, costs and proximity to death.

Hospital useMortality
2020
Transitions between frailty states: socioeconomic status and multimorbidity
Movement between robust, pre-frail, frail and death states from age 85 to 90.

FrailtyMultimorbidity
2026
Cognitive impairment, frailty and mortality in the oldest old
The latest work on co-occurring physical frailty and cognitive impairment.

Cognitive impairmentSurvival

E · Modifiable pathways

Nutrition & biomarkers

Cross-links: disability trajectories, frailty transitions.

2011
Assessment of a large panel of candidate biomarkers of ageing
An important guide to the breadth and interpretation of baseline biological measures.

Blood assaysBiomarkers
2019
Protein intake and disability trajectories in very old adults
Dietary protein and the course of disability across five years.

ProteinDisability
2020
Protein intake and transitions between frailty states and to death
Multi-state evidence on protein intake and incident frailty.

ProteinFrailty
2020
Protein intake, physical activity and transitions between disability states and death
How nutrition and activity interact across functional transitions.

Physical activityDisability
2020
25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration and disability trajectories
A useful example of biomarker analysis, confounding and cautious interpretation.

Vitamin DConfounding

F · Life beyond the clinic

Health services, housing & social life

Cross-links: dependency, frailty, medicines.

2012
The personal and health-service impact of falls in 85 year olds
Prevalence, morbidity, service use and consequences of falls at baseline.

FallsService use
2017
Patterns of loneliness and loss in the oldest old
Loneliness, widowhood and change across the first three years.

LonelinessWidowhood
2018
Use of primary care and other healthcare services between age 85 and 90
Longitudinal service use drawn from general-practice medical records.

Primary careRecord review
2020
Natural history of social participation in the very old
Patterns, predictors and decline in social participation from age 85 to 90.

ParticipationSocial factors
2022
Transitions in residential status over ten years in the very old
Movement between standard housing, supported housing, care homes and death.

HousingDependency

04 · Prepare

Make the first conversation useful

You do not need a finished protocol. You do need enough detail to test whether the idea is answerable with this cohort.

Bring a one-page project sketch

Question: one primary question or hypothesis.
Rationale: three sentences on the gap and why Newcastle 85+ is needed.
Sample: phases, inclusion criteria and expected follow-up.
Variables: exposure, outcome, confounders and their source schedules.
Analysis: the proposed model and how death, dropout and missingness will be handled.
Output: intended paper, report or other product, with a realistic timetable.