A Prospective Sociocentric Study of 2 Entire Traditional Korean Villages: The Korean Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (KSHAP)

Abstract

Abstract The Korean Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (KSHAP) was a multidisciplinary prospective study conducted in South Korea that measured various health biomarkers from blood, hair, and brain MRIs, and examined their associations with sociocentric (global) social network data of older adults in two entire villages (or Cohorts). Cohort K included participants aged 60 or older, and Cohort L included participants aged 65 or older. We performed a baseline survey involving 814 of the 860 individuals (94.7% response rate) in Cohort K in 2012 and 947 of the 1,043 individuals (90.8% response rate) in Cohort L in 2017. We gathered longitudinal data for five waves in Cohort K from 2011 to 2019 and two waves in Cohort L from 2017 to 2022. Here, we described for the first time the follow-up design of the KSHAP, the changes in social networks and various biomarkers over years. The data of Cohort K are publicly available via the Korean Social Science Data Archive as well as the project website, and the data of Cohort L will be shared soon.