The major research project of the department of Rehabilitation and Geriatric Medicine of Hadassah University Hospital at Mount Scopus is the “Jerusalem 70-year olds Longitudinal Study”. This is a community-based longitudinal, prospective cohort study on a representative sample of Jerusalem residents born on 1920-1921.

The study encompasses many medical, gerontological and social issues of aging. It was initiated in 1990 and hundreds of participants were examined since. The second cross section was completed during 1999 including more than a 1000 elders, all born on 1920-1921.

As part of the study data is gathered on every participant including medical, social and financial history, a complete physical examination including a complete neurological and cognitive examination as well as a wide variety of laboratory and imaging studies. All in all around 1500!

The study produced a large data base for all fields of geriatric medicine, gerontology and basic sciences of aging and is planned to continue longitudinally for many years.

This data base can assist in planning community and hospitalization services for the aging population. The third cross section is planned for 2004. So far many scientific publications emerged from this large scale study and many more are in various stages of publication.