NCDS Age 62 Sweep

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Age
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1958
Birth
1965
7
1969
11
1974
16
1981
23
1991
33
2000
42
2002
44
2004
46
2008
50
2013
55
2020
62
2026
68
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Sweep details Special features at age 62 Documentation

Sweep details

Sweep status Completed - awaiting final data from fieldwork agency
Dates January 2020 to April 2024
Age 61-65
Respondents Cohort members
Fieldwork agency NatCen and Kantar Public
Data access Data to be made available for research in summer 2025
Survey mode Face to face (some interviews were carried out via video call)
Description

The 12th sweep of NCDS originally began in January 2020. It was paused in March 2020 due to the pandemic and was restarted in spring 2021. The pandemic meant that fieldwork was carried out in multiple stages and in multiple modes. These complexities have impacted on how quickly our fieldwork partner has been able to process the data. We are currently awaiting the final data so that we can prepare and document it for release.

The survey included:

  • 90-minute interview with cognitive assessments
  • Paper self-completion questionnaire
  • 60-minute health visit
  • Life history paper questionnaire
  • Online diet questionnaire

The interview and paper self-completion questionnaire covered the following three broad themes:

Family, relationships and identity: including topics such as social networks, relationships with partners, parents, children, friends, neighbourhood, social capital, social and political participation, attitudes and values, religion, and expectations.

Finances and employment: including topics such as work, income, wealth (savings and debts, pensions, and housing), inheritance (receiving and giving) and other transfers, financial literacy, and education.

Health, wellbeing and cognition: including topics such as physical health, mental health, medical care, medication, smoking, drinking, diet, exercise, and cognitive function.

The health visit included a range of objective measurements of health including height, weight, blood pressure, balance and grip strength. Blood samples were also collected.

This sweep was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, Medical Research Council, National Institutes of Health, and Department for Work and Pensions.

A summary of the content of each of the elements and a more detailed summary of the biomeasures are both provided below. This documentation summarises the protocols followed and gives details about comparability with measurements conducted in other similar studies.

Special features at age 62

Video interviewing

For the first time, some of the cohort took part via video interview, using Microsoft Teams.

This approach was introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic when in-person interviewing was not feasible but continued to be an option for cohort members who preferred to take part in this way, after in-person interviewing resumed.

Collection of blood samples

Non-fasting (venus) blood samples were collected from all willing participants.

A full range of biochemical markers were measured on these:

  • Total Cholesterol and High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) Cholesterol
  • c-reactive protein
  • glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c)
  • triglycerides, metabolomics, and markers of cardiovascular health (NT-proBNP, Troponin I, GDF-15).

For the first time, biomedical fieldworkers centrifuged samples in the respondents’ homes prior to sending to the laboratory.

Life history questionnaire (aka childhood questionnaire)

Participants were asked to complete a retrospective paper questionnaire about their childhood.

They were asked to think back to when they were aged 7, 11 and 16 (when NCDS childhood surveys took place) and to answer questions about their health, education and family life at this time.

Many of the questions cover topics that were covered in the childhood surveys, which will allow retrospectively and prospectively collected information to be compared in order to better understand how accurately participants can recall their childhood.

This knowledge will benefit other studies which ask retrospective questions about childhood.

In addition, the questionnaire covered a number of topics which were not covered during childhood.

Financial circumstances

The survey included detailed questions on financial circumstances including pension arrangements and savings.

Pensions questions covered types of pensions held, contributions, withdrawals and pension receipt and value of pensions. Participants were also asked about their partner’s pension arrangements.

The data collected form a valuable resource for understanding the complexities of individual and household financial security, the adequacy of retirement preparations, and the influence of financial circumstances on wellbeing and other aspects of life.

 

Diet

Cohort members were, for the first time, asked to complete an online questionnaire (the OxfordWebQ) detailing all they ate and drank in a 24-hour period.

It has been used in many other studies including the BCS70 cohort at ages 46 and 51, UK Biobank, the Million Women Study and the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) Study.

The questionnaire was developed by the Cancer Epidemiology Unit at the University of Oxford to measure diet in large-scale studies.

Participants were asked to complete the questionnaire about two randomly allocated days in the week following their visit (one weekday and one day at the weekend) and on each time to record all that they ate and drank in the 24 hour period.

The questionnaire contains questions on the frequency of consumption of commonly consumed foods and drinks, with follow-up questions to collect detailed information about particular food and beverage types. Nutrient intakes are then automatically calculated by multiplying the quantity of each food consumed by its nutrient composition.

The data collected will allow for detailed exploration of the role of diet in determining an individual’s health as they approach retirement age.

Health measures

In addition to the collection of blood samples, the health visit collected a range of health measures including:

• seated and standing blood pressure
• maximal grip strength
• anthropometry: weight and body fat, waist and hip circumference
• timed normal walking speed
• standing balance: leg raise.

Data linkage

Study members who had not previously consented (at Age 50) were asked for permission to link their survey data with health and economic records held by the NHS, Department of Work and Pensions and HM Revenue & Customs.

Co-resident partners were also asked for consent to add their health and economic records to the data the study has collected. Combining information from these records with the study data collected over the years will provide a much fuller picture of the health and economic circumstances of the cohort.

Documentation

  • User guides
  • Questionnaires
  • Technical reports
  • Data notes
  • Additional
User guides

Handling mode effects in the CLS cohort studies user guide (Nov 2024)

A user guide which provides guidance and recommendations for handling mode effects in CLS’ cohort studies through applied examples, using data from the National Child Development Study (NCDS) and Next Steps.

Date published: 26/11/2024
PDF: 2,3 MB

Download

Handling missing data in the CLS cohort studies – User Guide

This user guide aims to describe and illustrate a straightforward approach to missing data handling, while detailing some more general considerations around missing data along the way.

Date published: 03/06/2024
PDF: 1000,62 KB

Download
Questionnaires

NCDS Age 62 Sweep – Biomeasures Summary Brief

1958 British Birth Cohort Study (National Child Development Study) Age 62 Sweep Biomeasures – 2022 Data Collection Update

Data Collection
Seated and Standing Blood Pressure
Grip Strength
Venous Blood Collection (non-fasting) and Centrifugation
Anthropometry: Weight and Body Fat, Waist and Hip Circumference
Timed Walk
Leg Raise/Balance

Date published: 19/12/2022
PDF: 169,29 KB

Download

NCDS Age 62 Sweep – Content Summary

National Child Development Study Age 62 Survey – Overview of Content April 2021

Content of main CAPI Interview
Content of ‘Your Life Now’ Self-Completion
Content of the Life History Questionnaire – ‘Childhood’
Online Diet Questionnaire
Nurse Visit – Bio-measures

Date published: 20/04/2021
PDF: 188,51 KB

Download
Technical reports

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Data notes

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Additional

No material of this type is available.

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