MASS Lifecourse reaches a major milestone

One of the AGE Research Group’s flagship studies, Muscle Ageing Sarcopenia Study Lifecourse (MASS Lifecourse), reached an important milestone at the end of September – the recruitment of its 260^th and final participant.

MASS Lifecourse, which is funded via the Ageing, Sarcopenia and Multimorbidity theme of the NIHR Newcastle Biomedical Research Centre, commenced in 2018 with the aim of establishing a deep-phenotyped life course cohort to bring about advances in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of sarcopenia.

The study has recruited men and women aged 18 to 85+ from across the North East of England with amazing support from our partners in General Practice. Thanks to everyone’s collaborative efforts and the willingness of individuals across the region to participate in our research we have now reached our target of 260 participants.

Our final participant, pictured here alongside our research nurse Katie Kucukcan, completed her baseline assessments with a visit to the Clinical Ageing Research Unit in September 2024. During this visit she reflected on her experience and gave her advice to others who may be interested in taking part in research:

“Consider the risk and benefits for taking part, and weigh them up for you personally. Then consider the wider impact of the research, and the benefits a new discovery could have for future generations. You could be part of something big and exciting that changes the way we do something for the better”.

We are incredibly grateful to all 260 of our participants for their time and invaluable contributions to this research which is driving forward our understanding of muscle ageing across the life course. An event held in March 2024 was a great opportunity for the MASS Lifecourse study team to meet with over 70 MASS Lifecourse participants, celebrate their involvement and update them on our latest scientific findings.  We were also able to update participants on our plans to invite them back, approximately 5 to 6 years after their first assessment, for a second set of assessments.  This will allow us to examine how muscle health and function changes over time within individuals and will commence in 2025 so please watch this space!

Last modified: Thu, 10 Oct 2024 13:06:56 BST