The Normative Aging Study (NAS) is a

longitudinal study A longitudinal study (or longitudinal survey, or panel study) is a research design that involves repeated observations of the same variables (e.g., people) over short or long periods of time (i.e., uses longitudinal data). It is often a type of obs ...

which studies the effects of aging on various health issues. The ongoing study was established in 1963 by the

United States Department of Veterans Affairs The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a Cabinet-level executive branch department of the federal government charged with providing life-long healthcare services to eligible military veterans at the 170 VA medical centers a ...

. The initial sample was 2,280 men now with an average age of 72 years (mean age at entry was 42 years). Most participants are veterans from World War II and the Korean War. Participants in the study have undergone medical examinations every three to five years, also answering questions about behaviors affecting health. Among the topics researchers have used the NAS for are stress, smoking, and

cardiac The heart is a muscular organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide to t ...

health. One of the findings based on the study was that subjective stress appeared to be a better prediction of mortality than the objective evaluation of stressful events.

References

{{reflist, 2 Cohort studies Old age in the United States