Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.
A Working Group on Health Expectancy was set up in late 1995 to provide expert advice to the Department of Health on the appropriate measures to use in the estimation of health expectancy (the expected number of years of disability-free life). The Working Group advised that health expectancy could not be properly monitored without longitudinal data, because it requires data on transition rates between health states. They recommended that the feasibility of collecting these data be investigated by following up and attempting to re-interview respondents aged 65 years and over interviewed in the 1994 <i>General Household Survey</i> (held at the Data Archive under SN:3538). The Department of Health commissioned ONS to re-interview approximately 1000 elderly people, around two and a half years after the GHS interview. The purpose of this pilot study was to examine various methodological aspects of the feasibility of carrying out a cohort study, or a series of cohort studies, of the elderly. The key data required were those which would enable transition rates between health states to be monitored, but a further aim was to collect information on related issues such as the use of long term care services. The main areas for consideration by the study were as follows: whether it would be possible to get a sufficiently high response rate and what were the likely biases in response; whether elderly respondents would be able to remember when particular health-related events happened and whether it would be possible to build up a history of health events between the two interviews; an assessment of the quality of data on health, mobility and other relevant topics, informed by comparison of answers at the two surveys; the optimum length of time between interviews: the longer the interval, the greater the number of health changes that occur, but less likely that the respondents remember the accurately; what size of sample and what interval between interviews would provide sufficient changes in health state for health expectancy analysis.
Main Topics:
Various health topics were covered in the survey. Household information : changes in household composition, details of the accommodation, presence of relatives nearby, availability of car. Health state : health on the whole, longstanding illness, perceived changes in health since the GHS. EuroQol : mobility, self-care, ability to do usual activities, pain, anxiety. Sight and hearing : eyesight and hearing difficulty, perceived change since GHS. Mental state : frequency of confusion. Mobility and self-care : getting around in the home, daily personal care. Continence : bladder and bowel continence. Getting out : walking outside the home, car use, public transport use. Aids and alterations : walking/mobility aids and alterations to the home. Domestic tasks : activities of daily living. Informal care : regular daily help. Use of services : use in the last month of local authority personal social services, medical visits and hospital attendance. Smoking and alcohol use. Income : perceived comparison with income at GHS, whether receiving 'Attendance Allowance'. Moving home : reasons for moving, likelihood of future move, reason for it and likely type of accommodation. Standard Measures EuroQol was used.
The sample was constructed as follows : of the original 1994 GHS sample of people aged 65 years and over, all those in households where there was someone aged 85 and over, and one half of all others, were selected for follow-up.
Face-to-face interview
CAPI computer aided interviewing was used.
