[Project profile: Study on global AGEing and adult health in China]

With accelerating and rapid ageing in China, there is an urgent need to collect reliable, valid and cross-nationally comparable data on health in the elderly to provide basis for richer and empirical analysis on the changing health over one's life course and compression of morbidity. To meet the demands of this growing special population, planning and preparing on related social protection mechanisms (health and pension systems) should also based on evidence-based decision-making process. Based on long-term follow-up, large scale cohort study is indispensible for the etiology of common chronic diseases and disabling conditions. This study aims to introduce the background, project objectives, contents, baseline characteristics, strength and weakness as well as prospect, related to the Study on global AGEing and adult health in China.