The Florey Adelaide Male Ageing Study (FAMAS): design, procedures & participants.
BACKGROUND
The Florey Adelaide Male Ageing Study (FAMAS) examines the reproductive, physical and psychological health, and health service utilisation of the ageing male in Australia. We describe the rationale for the study, the methods used participant response rates, representativeness and attrition to date.


METHODS
FAMAS is a longitudinal study involving approximately 1200 randomly selected men, aged 35-80 years and living in the north-west regions of Adelaide. Respondents were excluded at screening if they were considered incapable of participating because of immobility, language, or an inability to undertake the study procedures. Following a telephone call to randomly selected households, eligible participants were invited to attend a baseline clinic measuring a variety of biomedical and socio-demographic factors. Beginning in 2002, these clinics are scheduled to reoccur every five years. Follow-up questionnaires are completed annually. Participants are also invited to participate in sub-studies with selected collaborators.


RESULTS
Of those eligible to participate, 45.1% ultimately attended a clinic. Non-responders were more likely to live alone, be current smokers, have a high prevalence of self-reported diabetes and stroke, and lower levels of hypercholesterolemia. Comparisons with the Census 2001 data showed that participants matched the population for most key demographics, although younger groups and never married men were under-represented and elderly participants were over-represented. To date, there has been an annual loss to follow-up of just over 1%.


CONCLUSIONS
FAMAS allows a detailed investigation into the effects of bio-psychosocial and behavioural factors on the health and ageing of a largely representative group of Australian men.
Martin
Sean A
SA
Discipline of Medicine, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia. sean.martin@adelaide.edu.au <sean.martin@adelaide.edu.au>
Haren
Matthew T
MT
Middleton
Sue M
SM
Wittert
Gary A
GA
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D003710:Demography; D015438:Health Behavior; D006296:Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008571:Men / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D018456:Reproductive Medicine; D012107:Research Design; D013021:South Australia; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires