For Pride Month, the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) celebrates participants, researchers, staff, and supporters who identify as 2SLGBTQ+ and who have contributed to the ongoing success of the CLSA as a national research platform on health and aging. The CLSA is an important scientific resource that can be used to address the health and well-being of individuals from midlife to older age who identify as 2SLGBTQ+.

As a longitudinal data and research platform, the CLSA is dedicated to integrating sex and gender into research through both study design and methods, including updating data collection tools to better reflect sex, gender identity and sexual orientation. The CLSA invites researchers to access CLSA data and to pose important questions about health and aging. Learn more about the current projects and publications that use CLSA data to delve into questions related to aging and sexual and gender diversity:

• The CLSA Baseline Report on Health and Aging in Canada includes one chapter on older adult participants who identified as lesbian, gay, or bisexual at recruitment.

Approved Projects:

• The development of alcohol and tobacco use in aging, LGBTQIA+ communities in Canada
  Dr. Sarah Dermody, Toronto Metropolitan University
• Cardiovascular Health in the LBGTQIA2S+ Community Compared to the Heterosexual Community Using Data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging and Scoping Review of Knowledge Gaps in Health Care Delivery to an Aging Minority Group
  Dr. Gerry Mugford, Memorial University of Newfoundland
• Is there evidence of abuse and neglect of older adults in the CLSA COVID-19 survey?
  Dr. Gloria Gutman, Simon Fraser University
• Prevalence and predictors of elder abuse among Canadian LGBT and heterosexual older adults
  Dr. Gloria Gutman, McGill University
• Cognitive aging and dementia risk in sexual minority women
  Dr. Gillian Einstein, University of Toronto

• Mental and cognitive health in the aging sexual minority populations
  Dr. Shelley L. Craig, University of Toronto
• Social factors and cognition in the Canadian aging sexual minority populations
  Dr. Shelley L. Craig, University of Toronto
• Determinants of health among older sexual minority Canadians: A study of risk and resources
  Dr. Arne Stinchcombe, Brock University
• Getting by with a little help from their friends: the role of support and care networks in moderating health inequalities among lesbian, gay, and bisexual older Canadians
  Dr. Arne Stinchcombe, Brock University

Publications:

• Yang W, Craig SL, Ross LE, Anderson JAE, Muntaner C. Impact of Neighborhood Deprivation on Aging Sexual Minority People's Depression: Results from the CANUE and CLSA data. Arch Gerontol Geriatr. 2023 Mar 31;112:105013. doi: 10.1016/j.archger.2023.105013. 
• Hopper S, Hammond NG, Taler V, Stinchcombe A. Biopsychosocial Correlates of Subjective Cognitive Decline and Related Worry in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging. Gerontology. 2022 May 9:1-14.
• Hammond NG, Stinchcombe A. Prospective Associations between Physical Activity and Memory in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging: Examining Social Determinants. Res Aging. 2022 Mar 1:1640275211070001.
• Stinchcombe A, Hammond NG. Correlates of memory and executive function in mid-aged and older adults in the CLSA: A minority stress approach. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2021 May 8.
• Stinchcombe A, Hammond NG, Wilson K. Differential Effects of Social Support by Sexual Orientation: A Study of Depression Symptoms Among Older Canadians in the CLSA. Res Aging. 2020 Aug 7.
• Hammond NG, Stinchcombe A. Health Behaviors and Social Determinants of Migraine in a Canadian Population-Based Sample of Adults Aged 45-85 years: Findings from the CLSA. Headache. 2019 Aug 2.
• Ismail M, Hammond NG, Wilson K, Stinchcombe A. Canadians Who Care: Social Networks and Informal Caregiving Among Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Older Adults in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging. Int J Aging Hum Dev. 2019 Jul 29:91415019864603.
• Stinchcombe A, Wilson K, Kortes-Miller K, Chambers L, Weaver B. Physical and mental health inequalities among aging lesbian, gay, and bisexual Canadians: Cross-sectional results from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA). Can J Public Health. 2018 Jul 12

Webinars:

• LGBTQ+ aging in Canada: What can we learn from the CLSA? presented by Dr. Arne Stinchcombe, Brock University & Dr. Kimberley Wilson, University of Guelph