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The limitations of large-scale volunteer databases to address inequalities and global challenges in health and aging.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Brayne, C; Moffitt, TE
Published in: Nature aging
September 2022

Large-scale volunteer databanks (LSVD) have emerged from the recognized value of cohorts, attracting substantial funding and promising great scientific value. A major focus is their size, with the implicit and sometimes explicit assumption that large size (thus power) creates generalizability. We contend that this is open to challenge. In the context of aging and age-related disease research, LSVD typically have limitations such as healthy volunteer, white ethnicity and high-education biases, and they omit early and late life stages critical for understanding aging. Their outputs are heavily focused on biomedical pathways of single chronic diseases. LSVD outputs increasingly dominate the funding and the publication landscapes. This Perspective discusses LSVD limitations and calls for more transparent reporting in LSVD research, as well as a greater reflection on the value of LSVD in relation to resources consumed. We invite funders and researchers to examine whether LSVD do actually contribute knowledge needed for our acute global health challenges including inequalities.

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Published In

Nature aging

DOI

EISSN

2662-8465

ISSN

2662-8465

Publication Date

September 2022

Volume

2

Issue

9

Start / End Page

775 / 783

Related Subject Headings

  • Volunteers
  • Humans
  • Aging
  • 3202 Clinical sciences
 

Citation

APA
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ICMJE
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Brayne, C., & Moffitt, T. E. (2022). The limitations of large-scale volunteer databases to address inequalities and global challenges in health and aging. Nature Aging, 2(9), 775–783. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43587-022-00277-x
Brayne, Carol, and Terrie E. Moffitt. “The limitations of large-scale volunteer databases to address inequalities and global challenges in health and aging.Nature Aging 2, no. 9 (September 2022): 775–83. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43587-022-00277-x.
Brayne, Carol, and Terrie E. Moffitt. “The limitations of large-scale volunteer databases to address inequalities and global challenges in health and aging.Nature Aging, vol. 2, no. 9, Sept. 2022, pp. 775–83. Epmc, doi:10.1038/s43587-022-00277-x.

Published In

Nature aging

DOI

EISSN

2662-8465

ISSN

2662-8465

Publication Date

September 2022

Volume

2

Issue

9

Start / End Page

775 / 783

Related Subject Headings

  • Volunteers
  • Humans
  • Aging
  • 3202 Clinical sciences