SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS OF THE REPORT ON THE 2ND DATA-COLLECTION PERIOD AND LONGITUDINAL ANALYSES OF THE SENECA STUDY

In 1988 SENECA (Survey in Europe on Nutrition and the Elderly, a Conce rted Action) was initiated to study cross cultural differences in nutr itional issues and life style factors affecting health and performance of elderly Europeans. Nine of the original 19 participating towns in 12 European countries decided to conduct a longitudinal study. This su pplement presents the findings of the second data collection period an d the first longitudinal analyses of these nine towns. In addition, cr oss-sectional results are discussed for two towns from which few basel ine data were collected, and for two towns which were only involved in the 1993 survey: one from the United Kingdom and one from the United States. Ethical permission for the studies was obtained from local eth ical committees.