Background: The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) provides one of the richest population-based datasets for understanding ageing, health behaviours, comorbidities, and long-term outcomes in Ireland. While cancer is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in older adults, cancer epidemiology within TILDA remains under-explored. Leveraging this nationally representative cohort offers a unique opportunity to quantify cancer incidence, risk factors, symptom trajectories, and healthcare utilisation patterns in an ageing population.
Knowledge Gap:
Despite its depth, TILDA has not been comprehensively analysed as a cancer epidemiology resource. Existing studies tend to focus on single cancer types or specific risk factors and rarely link behavioural, biological, and healthcare variables simultaneously. In particular, the interactions between multimorbidity, socioeconomic position, screening history, and evolving risk across the life-course remain poorly characterised in the Irish context.
Aim.
To characterise cancer epidemiology within the TILDA cohort by examining incidence, determinants, symptom profiles, and healthcare utilisation patterns, and to identify actionable insights for prevention, early detection, and survivorship research in Ireland.
Proposed Methods.
We will use Waves 1–6 of TILDA, linking survey, clinical, biomarker, and administrative datasets where available. Analyses will include descriptive epidemiology, multivariable regression models to identify determinants of cancer incidence and stage at diagnosis, survival and time-to-event analyses for mortality outcomes, and latent-class or trajectory modelling to explore symptom patterns. We will examine behavioural, biological, socioeconomic, and multimorbidity predictors simultaneously to build a comprehensive risk profile. Sensitivity analyses will address missing data, attrition, and competing risks.
Implications.
This project will establish the first detailed cancer epidemiology framework in the TILDA cohort, generating nationally relevant evidence for prevention and early detection strategies. Findings will inform risk-stratified screening, resource allocation, and population health planning, and will provide a platform for future research on ageing and cancer in Ireland.