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Screening and recruitment procedure of late-middle aged and older subjects: the ZENITH study

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 59, pages S8–S12 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

Objective:

To report the rational, design, recruitment, baseline characteristics and preliminary overview of volunteers in the ZENITH study.

Design:

A multicentre prospective intervention study employing a randomised double-blind design.

Setting:

Clermont-Ferrand, Theix (France), Coleraine (Northern Ireland), Grenoble (France), Rome (Italy).

Participants:

Healthy men and women middle-aged (55–70 y) and older volunteers (70–87 y).

Interventions:

At baseline (prior to zinc (Zn) supplementation), all volunteers underwent a full clinical examination, anthropometric measurements, health and lifestyle questionnaire, Mini Mental State Examination, Geriatric Depression Scale, and biochemistry profile.

Results:

In total, 842 volunteers (378 men and 464 women) were invited to take part in the study. A total of 49% of these volunteers were excluded on the basis of inclusion/exclusion criteria. In total, 433 participants were admitted to the Zn supplementation for 6 months. During this period, about 10% of volunteers dropped out from the study.

Conclusions:

A total of 387 subjects (197 male and 190 female subjects) successfully completed the supplementation phase of the ZENITH study.

Sponsorship:

The ZENITH study is supported by the European Commission ‘Quality of Life and Management of Living Resources’ Fifth Framework Programme, Contract No: QLK1-CT-2001-00168.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge all volunteers for their cooperation. INRAN thank the municipal administrators of 11° and 17° municipalities in Rome, the Director of Health Centre of ASL RME and the family doctors for their invaluable support in the recruitment of volunteers and in particular Dr Palmira Leone.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute for Food and Nutrition Research, Human Nutrition Unit, Rome, Italy

    A Polito, G Catasta, E Azzini & G Maiani

  2. Centre de Recherche en Nutrition Humaine d'Auvergne, Unité des Maladies Métaboliques et Micronutrients, INRA, Clermont-Ferrand/Theix, France

    N Meunier & C Coudray

  3. Laboratoire de Nutrition Vieillissement et Maladies Cardiovasculaires, Faculté de Pharmacie, Université de Joseph Fourier, Domaine de la Merci, La Tronche, France

    M Andriollo-Sanchez & A M Roussel

  4. School of Psychology/Northern Ireland Centre for Food and Health, University of Ulster, Northern Ireland

    E E A Simpson & J M O'Connor

  5. Centre Hospitalier de Valence, Valence, France

    M Ferry

Authors
  1. A Polito
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  2. N Meunier
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  3. M Andriollo-Sanchez
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  4. G Catasta
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  5. E Azzini
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  6. E E A Simpson
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  7. J M O'Connor
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  8. A M Roussel
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  9. M Ferry
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  10. C Coudray
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  11. G Maiani
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to A Polito.

Additional information

Guarantor: G Maiani.

Contributors: AP is the scientific advisor responsible for INRAN and wrote the paper; NM, MAS, EEAS were responsible for recruitment in each centre; GC was involved in the Italian recruitment of volunteers; EA performed data collection for biochemistry profile; JMO, AMR, MF, GM are the partners’ leaders; CC is the ZENITH project Coordinator. All authors have contributed to finalisation of the manuscript.

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Polito, A., Meunier, N., Andriollo-Sanchez, M. et al. Screening and recruitment procedure of late-middle aged and older subjects: the ZENITH study. Eur J Clin Nutr 59 (Suppl 2), S8–S12 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602287

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602287

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