1. English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA)
Natasha Wood
Presentation is split into two parts.
I am going to give a brief background to ELSA then Mai Stafford from UCL is going to present some of the findings from the study.

2. A study of people aged 50+ and their partners
Background
How common is it?
A study of people aged 50+ and their partners
Multi-disciplinary - health, economic and social circumstances
Longitudinal - change over time
Comparative - USA (HRS) and Europe (SHARE)
Funding - National Institute on Aging (US) & UK Government Departments
Multi-disciplinary cover a wide range of topics. Also collect objective physical measurements through a nurse visit. 2

3. Dept of Epidemiology and Public Health, UCL
Research Team
Dept of Epidemiology and Public Health, UCL
National Centre for Social Research
Institute for Fiscal Studies
Universities of Cambridge, East Anglia and Manchester
This is the research team.

4. History of ELSA Wave 1 2002/3 Wave 2 Nurse visit 2004/5 2006/7 Wave 3
Original sample
interviewed in
HSE 1998/1999/2001
Age 50+ on 1 Mar 2002
Wave 1
12,100
2002/3
Wave 2
9,432
Nurse visit
7,666
2004/5
New cohort sample
HSE 2001/02/03/04
Age on 1 Mar 2006
2006/7
Wave 3
9,771
Life-history
7,855
Refreshment sample
from HSE 2006
Age on 1 Mar 2008
2008/9
Wave 4
11,050
Nurse visit
8,641
This diagram shows the history of the ELSA study.
ELSA Wave 1 began in 2002, the original sample was taken from the Health Survey for England (HSE) – we call the HSE Wave 0. Wave 1 consisted of just a main interview
ELSA Wave 2 took place in 2004, at this wave there was a core interview and a nurse visit.
ELSA Wave 3 was carried out in 2006 and consisted of a core interview. The sample was refreshed by the HSE sample at this wave.
Later on that year we also carried out a life history interview with some ELSA respondents. Life history interview asked about the respondents’ lives prior to joining ELSA – from early childhood to the date they joined ELSA. Information collected using a life grid – to aid recall.
Includes questions on:
Children - natural, adopt, foster, miscarriages, abortions, still births
Partners - cohabiting and non-cohab (social networks)
Accommodation - addresses for 6 months or more,
Work - jobs for 6 months or more, changes in employer, pt or ft, salaries, activities between jobs, whether left because of ill health
Health - injuries,
- childhood health (missed school, hospitalisation, list of conditions and when, impact on current life)
- adult health (conditions lasting for more than 1 yr, age, long term effects)
- smoking history
- gynaecology (age periods started, hysterectomy, ovaries, removed, menopause, HRT)
Parents - separation from mother, divorce, care and protection
ELSA Wave 4 took place in 2008, there was a core interview and a nurse visit. The mainstage sample was refreshed by the HSE 2006 sample at this wave.
Wave 5 began in June 2010.
Additional risk module which is a module of questions (or rather games) on attitudes towards financial risk. Games measure willingness to accept a delay in receiving money – deferred gratification and how risky or risk averse they are. Collected in combination with the financial data analyse people choice of pensions, assets etc.
Only a sub-sample of just over 1,000 ELSA respondents aged 50 to 74 will be asked this module of questions.
Wave 5
Risk module
Exp. 1,000
2010/11

5. Main Interview Content
Household and individual demographics
Health
Social participation
Work and pensions
Income and assets
Housing and consumption
Cognitive function (assessments)
Expectations
Effort and reward (of voluntary work and caring)
Psychosocial health
Timed walk (for those 60+)
Self-completion
These are the sections of the main ELSA interview. Interview is roughly 80 mins for 1 resp 120 mins for two.
Social participation – questions on transport – private and personal, a couple of questions on how they feel about their local area.
Cognitive function – respondents carry out a number of activities to measure their short and long term memory, prospective memory (remembering to remember), verbal fluency, mental speed and visual scanning, numeracy and literacy.
Expectations – expectations for the future – what degree of certainty they have about future events occurring e.g. living to a certain age, their future health, receiving an inheritance
Psycho social health – views on life e.g. how often during the last week they were happy, depressed, lonely
Timed walk – ask those aged 60 and above to walk 8ft (244cm) twice.
Self-completion – includes questions on quality of life, social participation, life satisfaction, well-being, personality, social networks, religion, discrimination, diet and alcohol consumption.
We also ask consent to link to NHS Central Register, Health and economic records.

6. Blood sample (fasting where possible) Height (standing, sitting)
Nurse Visit Content
Blood pressure
Grip strength
Blood sample (fasting where possible)
Height (standing, sitting)
Weight
Waist and hip measurement
Lung function
Balance
Leg rise
Chair raise
Saliva sample (after visit)
This is the content of the nurse visit. Each nurse interview takes an hour.

7. Where to go for more information
ELSA website:
Data and associated documentation:
Contact me: