ELSA: Study Overview
ELSA is a panel survey of people aged 50 and over and their partners, living in private households in England. Its main goal is to provide an interdisciplinary data resource on health, economic position and quality of life as people age. The survey elicits information about demographics, income, assets, health, cognition, family structure and connections, health care use and costs, housing, job status and history, expectations, and insurance.
The ELSA core interview is carried out in English every two years through face-to-face interviews using computer-assisted person interviewing (CAPI) since 2002.
In addition to the core interview, ELSA also collects a number of other types of data.
| End of Life Interview | Conducted at Waves 2, 3, 4, and 6 with a sample of family members or carers of deceased respondents. |
|---|---|
| Life History Interview | Conducted once on a subset of the ELSA sample after Wave 3. |
| Self-Completion Survey | General self-completion survey provided to respondents at each wave. Additional health and work self-completion surveys provided to sub-samples at Wave 3. Additional sexual activity and relationship self-completion survey at Wave 6 and 8. |
| Health Assessment | Conducted at Waves 2, 4 and 6 for all respondents via qualified nurse assessment. Conducted at Wave 8 for a 50% sub-sample and at Wave 9 for the remaining 50% sub-sample via nurse assessment. |
| Blood-Based Biomarkers | Venous blood was drawn during the nurse assessments. |
| Cognitive Assesment | The Harmonized Cognitive Assessment Protocol (HCAP) was conducted between Wave 8 and Wave 9 on respondents aged 65 and older. |
| Genetic Data | Genome wide association study (GWAS) was performed in 2013-2014 of 7,597 ELSA participants of European ancestry using the Illumina Omni 2.5-8 chip. |
| Covid-19 Interview | Covid-19-related information was collected among all respondents at two timepoints through online surveys and by phone. The first round began in June 2020 and ended in July 2020. The second round began in November 2020 and ended in December 2020. |
The ELSA Wave 1 sample included 11,578 households containing 18,813 eligible individuals and their spouses. Since then, the ELSA sample has been refreshed at waves 3, 4, 6, 7 and 9. When a refreshment sample is drawn, households from HSE are selected for ELSA if at least one HSE interview was conducted with an age eligible respondent who agreed to be re-contacted.
