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Article
English Longitudinal Study of Ageing
The English Longitudinal Study of Ageing is an exciting new study, the aim of ELSA is to become an interdisciplinary data resource on health, economic position and quality of life as people age. The survey will cover the broad set of topics relevant to a full understanding of the ageing process, these include:

  • Health, disability, healthy life expectancy
  • The relationship between economic position and health
  • The determinants of economic position in older age
  • The timing and circumstances of retirement and post-retirement labour market activity
  • The nature of social networks, support and participation
  • Household and family structure and the transfer of resources.
Related publications
Publications by type

30 November 2012
IFS Reports
Article
This report examines a range of quantitative evidence to shed light on how current older cohorts of defined contribution (DC) pension fund holders are approaching and deadline with retirement and annuitisation.
01 November 2012
Journal Articles
Article
This paper investigates whether number of children and, among parents, having a daughter is associated with older people's likelihood of at least weekly face-to-face social contact and later receipt of help if needed.
23 October 2012
IFS Reports
Article
This report provides a new assessment of the proportion of people aged between 50 and the State Pension Age (SPA) who are at risk of having inadequate resources in retirement and considers the characteristics associated with the risk of such inadequacy.
15 October 2012
Presentations
Article
Paper given at the ELSA Wave 5 Launch, at the Royal Society
15 October 2012
Presentations
Article
Paper given at the ELSA Wave 5 Launch, at the Royal Society
15 October 2012
Books
Article
This report is the fifth wave of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, a survey of people of 50 and over in England.
15 October 2012
Presentations
Article
Paper given at the ELSA Wave 5 Launch at the Royal Society
15 October 2012
Presentations
Article
Paper given at the ELSA Wave 5 Launch at the Royal Society.
15 October 2012
Presentations
Article
Paper given at the ELSA Wave 5 Launch at the Royal Society
15 October 2012
Presentations
Article
Paper given at the ELSA Wave 5 Launch at the Royal Society
15 October 2012
Presentations
Article
Paper given at the ELSA Wave 5 Launch at the Royal Society
01 June 2012
Journal Articles
30 April 2012
IFS Working Papers
Article
We use these data and earlier ELSA waves first to document the effect of the crisis on the finances of those aged 50 and over in England, and second, to estimate the effect of wealth shocks on household consumption and individual expectations of the future.
01 March 2012
Journal Articles
Article
This paper investigates the effects of retirement on various health outcomes.
01 March 2012
Journal Articles
01 February 2012
Journal Articles
Article
This article aims to evaluate the associations of emergent genome-wide-association study-derived coronary heart disease (CHD)-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with established and emerging risk factors, and the association of genome-wide-association study-derived lipid-associated SNPs with other risk factors and CHD events.
01 February 2012
Journal Articles
01 December 2011
Journal Articles
Article
Our primary aim is to develop and validate a population health metric for survey-based health assessment that combines information from both self-reported and observer-measured health indicators
11 November 2011
Journal Articles
Article
This article explores how blood pressure is a heritable trait influenced by several biological pathways and responsive to environmental stimuli.
01 November 2011
User Guides
Article
This document describes how to use the derived income and asset variables for ELSA Waves 1 to 4.
01 November 2011
User Guides
Article
This User Guide contains information about the third release of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) Index File.
23 October 2011
User Guides
Article
The excel spreadsheet pengrid_var_correspondence.xls' (which is also available as part of the ELSA Wave 2 documentation) shows how the variables in the pension-level dataset relate to those contained in the main individual-level dataset.
23 October 2011
User Guides
Article
This document describes how to use the derived pension wealth variables for ELSA Wave 1.
23 October 2011
User Guides
Article
This User Guide covers the ELSA self-completion data relating to personal beliefs and wellbeing, otherwise known as the Ryff scale.
18 October 2011
User Guides
Article
This user guide describes how pensions in the ELSA data have been categorised and which variables are included in this separate pensions grid, including some additional derived variables not previously available.
07 October 2011
User Guides
Article
This document accompanies the first version of data from Wave 1 of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA).
07 October 2011
User Guides
Article
Three derived variables are included in the wave 3 pension grid to summarise the status of each pension.
04 October 2011
User Guides
Article
The nurse interview comprised a personal face-to-face CAPI interview and the collection of a number of different measures.
02 October 2011
User Guides
Article
The nurse interview comprised a personal face-to-face CAPI interview, the taking of a number of different measures and an additional voluntary self-completion questionnaire.
01 October 2011
User Guides
28 September 2011
Journal Articles
Article
To investigate whether older adults participating in social activities are more likely to maintain or achieve recommended waist circumference (WC) levels.
22 July 2011
Journal Articles
12 July 2011
Journal Articles
Article
The objective of this research was to identify the effects of participation in learning on the subjective wellbeing of older adults.
10 June 2011
Journal Articles
Article
This article investigates cross-national differences in late-life health outcomes and focus on an intriguing difference in beliefs about personal control found between older adult populations in the U.K. and United States.
10 January 2011
Journal Articles
Article
To investigate whether the impact of negative and positive social exchanges on depression depends on relationship type among late middle age and older adults.
21 November 2010
Journal Articles
03 November 2010
Journal Articles
Article
This article examines the extent to which cognitive abilities relate to differences in trajectories for key economic outcomes as individuals move towards and through their retirement.
22 October 2010
Books
Article
This report covers the fourth wave of data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, a survey of people of 50 and over in England.
01 October 2010
Book Chapters
Article
This is a chapter of the wave 4 analysis of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.
01 October 2010
Book Chapters
Article
This is a chapter of the wave 4 analysis of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.
11 August 2010
Journal Articles
Article
To explore geographical and sociodemographic factors associated with variation in equity in access to total hip and knee replacement surgery
29 July 2010
Journal Articles
Article
To investigate the association of polymorphisms in complement factor H (CFH) and coronary heart disease (CHD) using meta-analysis.
17 March 2010
Journal Articles
Article
This article examines gender differences in health at ages 50 years and older in 11 European countries, England and the USA.
01 January 2010
Journal Articles
Article
This study aims to examine clustering of smoking, low levels of physical activity, and risky drinking in older adults and the relationship of these behaviors with measures of SES.
01 November 2009
Journal Articles
Article
This study aims to investigate the association between socioeconomic position (SEP) and physical disability at older age, using a framework that incorporates education, social class and wealth.
01 October 2009
Journal Articles
Article
We aimed to examine associations between the PON1 Q192R polymorphism and self-reported poor health and depression in two independent population-based studies.
01 September 2009
Journal Articles
Article
In this paper, we identify methodological differences and similarities in the measurement of wealth using survey data constructed for different purposes in the UK and separately for England.
01 August 2009
Journal Articles
21 June 2009
Journal Articles
Article
In this paper we investigate the size of health differences that exist among men in England and the United States and how those differences vary by Socio-Economic Status (SES) in both countries.
12 June 2009
IFS Briefing Notes
Article
The tables in this paper present a description of the distribution of wealth amongst those aged 50 and over in England in 2002/3, with the analysis split by a series of different factors.
01 June 2009
Technical Reports
Article
This technical report focuses on ELSA's methodology and the conduct of wave 3.
01 May 2009
Journal Articles
Article
The objective of this study is to assess health behaviours in cancer survivors in a population-based sample of older adults in the United Kingdom.
23 March 2009
User Guides
01 March 2009
Journal Articles
Article
Analyses incorporating large independent population-based samples and identical measures are needed to investigate recent trends in cognitive function.
01 March 2009
Journal Articles
Article
The objective of this study is to examine whether wealth gradients in the incidence of illness decline with age, and, if so, whether this decline is explained by differential mortality.
01 March 2009
Journal Articles
Article
We compared the health of older US, English, and other European adults, stratified by wealth.
01 March 2009
Book Chapters
Article
This chapter is part of a volume which addresses the relationship between health and economic status, including why health behaviours vary across populations and how socioeconomic measures correlate with health outcomes.
01 February 2009
Journal Articles
Article
The objective of this paper is to examine the association between a biomarker of exposure to secondhand smoke (salivary cotinine concentration) and cognitive impairment.
14 January 2009
Journal Articles
Article
We examined if persistent depressive symptoms are associated with markers of inflammation and coagulation, and if this association can be partly explained by weight control and behavioural risk factors.
26 November 2008
Journal Articles
Article
This paper examines whether participation in social activities is associated with higher levels of wellbeing among post-retirement age people in England, and, if so, whether these relationships are explained by the reciprocal nature of these activities.
01 November 2008
Technical Reports
Article
This technical report focuses specifically on the ELSA's methodology and conduct of the second wave
01 November 2008
Journal Articles
Article
The objective of this study was to investigate whether psychological well-being is associated with levels of cognitive function.
07 October 2008
Journal Articles
01 October 2008
Journal Articles
Article
The gene filaggrin (FLG) codes for a protein that cross-links keratin and is critical in forming a healthy top layer of skin.
01 October 2008
Journal Articles
Article
We investigated whether SLC2A9 is a functional urate transporter that contributes to the longstanding association between urate and blood pressure in man.
14 August 2008
Journal Articles
Article
The objective of this study was to assess the receipt of effective healthcare interventions in England by adults aged 50 or more with serious health conditions.
01 August 2008
Journal Articles
Article
The aim of this study is to contribute further to the understanding of the association between parental longevity and offspring's successful ageing.
01 August 2008
Journal Articles
Article
The objective of this stidy is to estimate the effects of excess body weight on objective and subjective physical function and mortality risks in noninstitutionalized older adults.
16 July 2008
IFS Press Releases
Article
The poorest older people are more than twice as likely to die at any given age than the richest.
16 July 2008
Presentations
Article
This presentation was given at the launch of a report on the third wave of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.
16 July 2008
Presentations
Article
This presentation was given at the launch of a report on the third wave of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.
16 July 2008
Presentations
Article
This presentation was given at the launch of a report on the third wave of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.
16 July 2008
Books
Article
Analysis of the third wave of data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.
01 July 2008
Journal Articles
Article
The objective of this study was to assess whether incident mobility disability and neighbourhood deprivation in older people are associated independent of the effects of individual socio-economic status, health behaviours and health status.
01 July 2008
Journal Articles
Article
This study examined the link between SSS and health in old age and investigated whether SSS mediated the associations between objective indicators of socioeconomic status and health.
01 July 2008
Book Chapters
Article
This chapter looks at some simple patterns emerging from ELSA to paint a broad-brush picture of the distribution of outcomes that can be expected for the cohort members between now and when they reach the state pension age.
22 April 2008
Journal Articles
Article
This article examines the relationship between stroke risk and cognitive function in a large sample of community-dwelling individuals free from a history of stroke or dementia.
22 April 2008
Journal Articles
Article
The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between 10-year risk for incident stroke and cognitive function in a large population-based sample.
10 March 2008
Journal Articles
Article
This paper describes the conceptual development of a self-enumerated scale of quality of life (CASP-19) and presents an empirical evaluation of its structure using a combination of exploratory and confirmatory factor analytic approaches across three different survey settings for older people living in England and Wales in the new millennium.
12 February 2008
Journal Articles
Article
The objective is to to identify socio-economic, behavioural and disease status risks for impaired balance or self-reported dizziness in older people from a large population-based study.
01 February 2008
Journal Articles
Article
The objectives were to assess the relationship between cognitive function, socioeconomic status, and neighborhood deprivation.
01 February 2008
Journal Articles
Article
This study explores the association between age identity, perceptions of age, and health.
31 January 2008
Journal Articles
Article
This paper investigates between self-reported health status and quality of life at older ages.
30 January 2008
Journal Articles
Article
This article contributes to the debate about retirement age and the extent to which occupational pensions influence the decision to retire.
12 January 2008
Journal Articles
Article
One of the most ubiquitous global health measures is a single self-rated health item.
01 January 2008
Journal Articles
01 January 2008
External publications
Article
This project based on the ELSA data will explore social exclusion and dimensions of social isolation in people 50 years old and over with emphasis on people 80 years old and over.
01 November 2007
Journal Articles
Article
The objective of this paper was to assess the association between physical activity and subsequent physical functioning in middle-aged adults across a range of body mass index (BMI) categories.
23 October 2007
User Guides
Article
This User Guide provides detailed information pertaining to the Life History Interview component of ELSA Wave 3.
01 October 2007
Journal Articles
Article
We investigated whether health potential (indicated by height) was realised among those experiencing financial disadvantage in later life.
28 September 2007
Journal Articles
Article
The objective was to assess whether transition into retirement is associated with increased rates of smoking cessation.
07 August 2007
IFS Working Papers
Article
In this paper, we identify methodological differences and similarities in the measurement of wealth using survey data constructed for different purposes in the United Kingdom and England.
01 July 2007
Technical Reports
Article
This technical report focuses specifically on the study's methodology and the conduct of the ELSA Wave 1 survey.
01 July 2007
Journal Articles
Article
We investigated the following question: Would access to and use of domestic information and communication technology affect people's attachment to place in later life?
28 June 2007
Journal Articles
Article
The objective of this study was to examine the role of dual sensory loss in the onset and persistence of depression in older persons living in U.K.
01 June 2007
Journal Articles
Article
The objective was to test the effect of time since labour market exit on associations between socioeconomic position and self-rated health.
12 March 2007
Journal Articles
Article
This paper finds that in middle-aged and older men and women, moderate levels of alcohol consumption are associated with better cognitive health than abstinence.
02 March 2007
Journal Articles
Article
This paper sets out to assess whether there is a relationship between smoking and levels of overall quality of life, or with the pleasure domain of quality of life, in lower socio-economic groups (SES).
30 January 2007
Book Chapters
Article
The Whitehall II study of British civil servants was set up with the explicit purpose of testing hypotheses as to the causes of the social gradient in cardiovascular and other diseases.
22 January 2007
Journal Articles
Article
Our objectives were to determine the temporal relationship between pain and depression, and to investigate whether these two syndromes share predictors.
22 January 2007
IFS Working Papers
Article
In this paper we examine the relative health status of mature men in the US and the UK.
01 January 2007
Journal Articles
Article
This paper sets out to estimate disability plus mortality risks in older people according to level of alcohol intake.
01 November 2006
Journal Articles
Article
Our objective was to compare the prevalence of existing hip and knee joint replacements with that of need in population groups in England.
29 August 2006
Journal Articles
Article
This paper presents an overview of the beginnings of a research agenda targeted towards increasing the empirical evidence on economic issues related to ageing in England and providing extensive data for subsequent research.
07 July 2006
Presentations
Article
Presentation at the launch of the report covering the second wave of the ELSA survey.
07 July 2006
IFS Press Releases
Article
Individuals who are 5059 years-old and from the poorest fifth of the population are over 10 times more likely to die than their peers from the richest fifth.
07 July 2006
Book Chapters
Article
This chapter looks at individual's spending and consumption patterns.
07 July 2006
Book Chapters
Article
The first wave of data from ELSA has provided, and still is providing, evidence on how the characteristics of those who are still in paid work at older ages differ from those who are not.
07 July 2006
Presentations
Article
Presentation at the launch of the report covering the second wave of the ELSA survey.
07 July 2006
Presentations
Article
Presentation at the launch of the report covering the second wave of the ELSA survey.
07 July 2006
Presentations
Article
Presentation at the launch of the report covering the second wave of the ELSA survey.
07 July 2006
Presentations
Article
Presentation at the launch of the report covering the second wave of the ELSA survey.
07 July 2006
Presentations
Article
Presentation at the launch of the report covering the second wave of the ELSA survey.
07 July 2006
Books
Article
This report covers the second wave of data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, a survey of people of 50 and over in England.
07 July 2006
Presentations
Article
Presentation at the launch of the report covering the second wave of the ELSA survey.
03 May 2006
Journal Articles
Article
This articles sets out to assess the relative heath status of older individuals in England and the United States, especially how their health status varies by important indicators of socioeconomic position.
02 May 2006
IFS Press Releases
Article
Middle-aged English people are healthier than their American counterparts, according to a collaborative study issued today by English and US researchers.
01 April 2006
Journal Articles
Article
The objective of this paper is to investigate whether longstanding illnesses, social context, and current socioeconomic circumstances predict quality of life.
27 March 2006
IFS Working Papers
Article
In this paper we look at numerical ability and other dimensions of cognitive function in a sample of older adults in England and examine the extent to which these abilities are correlated with various measures of wealth and retirement saving outcomes.
03 February 2006
External publications
Article
The main objective of this project was to measure the patterns of different forms of social exclusion among older people and to examine the key risk factors, or indicators, of social exclusion among older people.
03 February 2006
Presentations
Article
While there is some degree of independence between physical and mental capability among older adults, the ageing process is associated with an average decline in both.
10 December 2005
Journal Articles
Article
Quality of life is the most desired patient centred outcome of medical care.
03 November 2005
Journal Articles
Article
To measure the risk of periretirement age disability associated with five different anthropometric measures of body mass and shape, and to compare the measures in this group, the peak age group of obesity prevalence.
01 November 2005
Journal Articles
Article
Mobility (locomotor) disability is an early marker of disability progression, health care utilisation and institutionalisation in older people. Whether mobility disability has different causes in the middle-aged has received limited attention.
14 October 2005
Mimeos
Article
The aim of this analysis was to establish whether self-reported disability in walking medium distances (a quarter of a mile) in an English ageing study (ELSA) was comparable to similar self-reports in the US (NHANES) studies.
17 May 2005
IFS Working Papers
Article
This paper explains the methodology used for calculating pension wealth for all individuals in the first wave of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA).
01 November 2004
Presentations
Article
This presentation provides an introduction to the ELSA survey.
01 October 2004
Newspaper Articles
Article
Longevity, health, economic resources, and social and family circumstances are inexorably linked.
02 March 2004
IFS Briefing Notes
Article
This paper was presented at a seminar organised by the Economic and Social Research Council. It asks whether it is possible to design a pension system that can guarantee financial security to individuals, employers and to the state simultaneously.
01 December 2003
Book Chapters
Article
This chapter provides a complete cross-sectional description of the labour market activity and retirement status of the older population in England.
01 December 2003
Books
Article
This study analyses the results from the first wave of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.
01 December 2003
Book Chapters
Article
Possibly one of the most pressing concerns in the debate on the ageing population is whether individuals will have adequate economic resources to maintain sufficient standards of living in retirement, and, if not, what the government can provide, in terms of health care and retirement income, to meet the needs of a population with an increasing fraction of older individuals.

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