English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA)
ELSA is a longitudinal study investigating the health, social, well-being, and economic circumstances of people aged 50 and over in England. In 2002, the study recruited adults aged 50 or older from households that responded to the 1998, 1999, or 2001 waves of the Health Survey for England (HSE). At baseline, over 12,000 participants were included in the study. Participants are followed up every other year to measure changes in health, economic and social circumstances. New participants are periodically recruited to retain the representativeness of the sample. New participants have been recruited in waves 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, and 11.
Study design
Cohort - open, Cohort
Number of participants at first data collection
12,099 (participants)
Recruitment is ongoing
Age at first data collection
≥ 50 years (participants)
Participant year of birth
Varied (participants)
Participant sex
All
Representative sample at baseline?
People over 50 living in England.
Sample features
Countries
Year of first data collection
2002
Primary Institutions
University College London (UCL)
Links
Profile paper DOI
Funders
Department for Health & Social Care (DHSC)
Department for International Development (DFID) now known as Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO)
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)
Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)
Ongoing?
Yes
Data types collected
- Computer, paper or task testing (e.g. cognitive testing, theory of mind doll task, attention computer tasks)
- Interview – face-to-face
- Interview – phone
- Physical or biological assessment (e.g. blood, saliva, gait, grip strength, anthropometry)
- Self-report questionnaire – online
- Self-completed questionnaire – paper or computer assisted
- Self-completed questionnaire – online
- None
- None
- Healthcare data
- Healthcare data
- Mortality data
- Tax, income & benefit data
Engagement
Keywords
Consortia and dataset groups
