The ongoing Inspire-T human cohort is designed to specifically study this new concept of healthy ageing trajectories focused on integrated clinical and biological markers, to understand the underlying biological mechanisms of maintaining essential functions, and to contribute to the validation of biological age measures.
The Inspire-T cohort is made up of 1,129 men and women aged between 20 and over 100 at the time of recruitment. Participants are recruited from the Toulouse region of France and have varying levels of functional impairment at the time of inclusion. We have chosen not to use overly strict eligibility criteria; only people with serious illnesses compromising life expectancy at 5 years (or at 2 years for frail elderly subjects and those aged 80 or over) and legally incapacitated people are excluded. Participants are stratified into ten-year age groups, with over-sampling of people aged over 70.
Clinical data and biological samples are collected at the start of the study, and then each year at the Gérontopôle Clinical Research Centre or at participants’ homes, thanks to the intervention of a mobile clinical research team. A series of questionnaires is used to explore a number of areas, including socio-demographic background, health status (treatments, co-morbidities, vaccinations), autonomy, frailty (Fried criteria), nutritional status, oral and dental status, mood, behaviour, physical and cognitive performance, and lifestyle factors (smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity, sedentary lifestyle, sleep, food intake, sun exposure). Intrinsic capacity, and its 6 domains, is assessed according to the recommendations of the WHO’s ICOPE programme. Every four months during the first year, and then every six months from the second year of follow-up, participants were asked to assess their functions at home using the ICOPE MONITOR application. Depending on the results observed, a more in-depth assessment could be proposed to investigate the potential causes of the decline (including biological, social and environmental causes and intercurrent diseases) and to propose targeted preventive strategies and personalised interventions. All subjects are offered DEXA body composition screening every 5 years. Other physiological investigations (oxygen consumption test (VO2 max) and muscle strength test (Cybex)) were offered to a sub-sample of 340 subjects on inclusion in the study. A brain/body MRI scan was also performed on a sub-sample of 120 subjects at inclusion.
Biological samples of blood (PBMC, serum, heparinised plasma, EDTA plasma, whole blood, RBC), urine, saliva and dental plaque (biofilm) were taken from all fasting subjects at the start of the study and then annually. Superficial skin samples, faeces, hair follicles and skin biopsies were optionally collected at inclusion. Aliquots of biological material were stored at -80°C (whole blood, serum, plasma, urine, dental biofilm, saliva, skin biopsy, fibroblasts, faeces and hair follicles) or at -196°C in liquid nitrogen (PBMC) at the central laboratory (CRB TBR, CHU Toulouse/ IFB PURPAN, Toulouse, France).
Trial Plan
Biobank (updated January 2025)
