THE ENGLISH LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF
AGEING (ELSA)
7.39. ELSA is based on a sample taken from the
1998 and 2001 survey years of the Health Survey for England. Eligible
members of the sample were individuals born on or before 29 February
1952, and who therefore were aged 50 or over at the time of the
start of the ELSA fieldwork. The 12,000 members of the sample
completed questionnaires and were interviewed to provide data
on such matters as health (including measurement of walking speed),
housing, work, social participation, income, assets and pensions.
A principal purpose of the survey is to examine the interrelationship
between these different areas of life.
7.40. The data from all these interviews were
published by the Institute for Fiscal Studies in December 2003
as the 2002 English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. A second wave
of interviews of the same sample (as near as possible) took place
in spring 2004, and subsequent interviews will take place every
two years.
7.41. The value of such a survey is not confined
to England. ELSA was designed to be compatible with the US Health
and Retirement Study (HRS), and half the funding for ELSA over
the first five years has come from the US National Institute on
Aging, the remainder being funded by nine Government Departments.[137]
ELSA and HRS have become models for the Survey of Health and
Retirement in Europe (SHARE) which is planned in several European
countries to yield comparable data.
THE FUNDING PROBLEM
7.42. The strength of CFAS comes from its focus
on detailed assessment of cognitive performance. It has included
measures on other factors, including socioeconomic variables,
but these have not been a major focus of enquiry. In the case
of ELSA, its strength lies in the in-depth questioning on socio-economic
matters such as work and retirement, social activity, physical
and cognitive function, housing and social environment. However
only one brief chapter deals with health problems, and therein
lies its weakness. Whether the weaknesses of studies like CFAS
or ELSA would best be addressed by extending their scope or by
funding a network of interlinked longitudinal studies of ageing
is a matter beyond the remit of this inquiry. Nevertheless, we
have been made aware of the considerable importance of conducting
longitudinal research on scientific aspects of ageing and of the
major difficulties that investigators have encountered in securing
the long-term infrastructure support that is needed to underpin
such research.
7.43. The Government should make additional
funding available through the Department of Health and the research
councils to implement joined-up programmes of longitudinal research
on scientific aspects of ageing.
121 Final Report of the Review by Derek Wanless, Securing
our Future Health: Taking a Long-Term View, April 2002. Back
122
Paragraphs 2.32 to 2.61. Back
123
Paragraph 2.33. Back
124
Paragraphs 2.18 to 2.21 Back
125
Since the general election, the name has been changed to "Sub-Committee
on Ageing Policy". Back
126
Prior to the general election, the terms of reference were "To
co-ordinate the Government's policies affecting older people;
and to report as necessary to the Committee on Domestic Affairs." Back
127
Cm 6466, paragraph 5.5. Back
128
Paragraph 5.3. Back
129
Iona Heath, British Medical Journal, 23 April 2005. Back
130
p 358. Back
131
Paragraph 4.27. Back
132
Scuffham and Chaplin, Incidence and Cost of Unintentional Falls
of Older People in the United Kingdom. Back
133
Clinical practice guideline for the assessment and prevention
of falls in older people, January 2005. Back
134
p 192. Back
135
Ferguson, Selecting Participants when Testing New Drugs: the Implications
of Age and Gender Discrimination, Medico-Legal Society, April
2003. Back
136
The Age Shift - Priorities for Action, December 2000, page 25. Back
137
DfES, Defra, DoH, DTI, DWP, ODPM, Treasury, Inland Revenue, ONS. Back