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The Costa Rican Longevity and Healthy Aging Study (CRELES, or Costa Rica Estudio de Longevidad y Envejecimiento Saludable) is a nationally representative longitudinal survey of health and lifecourse experiences of 2,827 Costa Ricans ages 60 and over in 2005, the baseline collection. CRELES-2 refers to the second wave of visits in this longitudinal study, and includes the results from these visits. The first wave of interviews, or baseline, of CRELES is also available at http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR26681. The second wave fieldwork was conducted from October 2006 to July 2008, with 2,364 surviving and contacted participants. The original sample was drawn from Costa Rican residents in the 2000 population census who were born in 1945 or before, with an over-sample of the oldest-old (ages 95 and over). Vital statistics indicate that Costa Rica has an unusually high life expectancy for a middle-income country, even higher than that of the United States, but CRELES is the first nationally representative survey to investigate adult health levels in Costa Rica. CRELES public use data files contain information on a broad range of topics including self-reported physical health, psychological health, living conditions, health behaviors, health care utilization, social support, and socioeconomic status. Objective health indicators include anthropometrics, observed mobility, and biomarkers from fasting blood samples (such as cholesterol, glycosylated hemoglobin, and C-reactive protein). Mortality events are tracked and conditions surrounding death are measured in a surviving family interview.

The Research on Early Life and Aging Trends and Effects (RELATE) study compiles cross-national data that contain information that can be used to examine the effects of early life conditions on older adult health conditions, including heart disease, diabetes, obesity, functionality, mortality, and self-reported health. The complete cross sectional/longitudinal dataset (n=147,278) was compiled from major studies of older adults or households across the world that in most instances are representative of the older adult population either nationally, in major urban centers, or in provinces. It includes over 180 variables with information on demographic and geographic variables along with information about early life conditions and life course events for older adults in low, middle and high income countries. Selected variables were harmonized to facilitate cross national comparisons.

In this first public release of the RELATE data, a subset of the data (n=88,273) is being released. The subset includes harmonized data of older adults from the following regions of the world: Africa (Ghana and South Africa), Asia (China, India), Latin America (Costa Rica, major cities in Latin America), and the United States (Puerto Rico, Wisconsin). This first release of the data collection is composed of 19 downloadable parts: Part 1 includes the harmonized cross-national RELATE dataset, which harmonizes data from parts 2 through 19. Specifically, parts 2 through 19 include data from Costa Rica (Part 2), Puerto Rico (Part 3), the United States (Wisconsin) (Part 4), Argentina (Part 5), Barbados (Part 6), Brazil (Part 7), Chile (Part 8), Cuba (Part 9), Mexico (Parts 10 and 15), Uruguay (Part 11), China (Parts 12, 18, and 19), Ghana (Part 13), India (Part 14), Russia (Part 16), and South Africa (Part 17).

The Health and Retirement Study (HRS) was also used in the compilation of the larger RELATE data set (HRS) (N=12,527), and these data are now available for public release on the HRS data products page. To access the HRS data that are part of the RELATE data set, please see the collection notes below.