The Canadian Study of Health and Aging was initially funded through the Canadian federal government's Seniors' Independence Research Program. This was established in 1988 to stimulate research that addressed health issues in the growing elderly population. The Program funds were administered by the National Health Research and Development Program of Health Canada, which arranged the formal review of the CSHA proposal (Project No. 6606-3954-MC(S)). Supplementary funding for the caregiver component was provided by the Medical Research Council of Canada.

After 1998, funding for the core study was obtained from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (grant # MOP-42530); supplementary funding for the caregiver component was provided under grant # MOP-43945.

Throughout the study, additional funding was obtained for supplementary components and for personnel funding. This came from many sources: provincial governments, research granting agencies and from the private sector. Provincial funding permitted us to increase the sample size in certain areas of Canada and to access provincial health care plan data. Funding from the pharmaceutical industry contributed to the collection and analysis of biological samples, to the caregiver sub-study, to personnel support via training awards, and it supported access to provincial health care plan data. We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Pfizer Corporation Inc., of Bayer Canada Inc., of Janssen-Ortho Inc., and of Merck-Frosst Canada & Co.

The study was coordinated through the University of Ottawa, which provided administrative support and facilities for the coordinating centre, and the Division of Aging and Seniors, Health Canada.

We gratefully acknowledge the generous support of all of these agencies.