Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner. 

The English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) is a longitudinal survey of ageing and quality of life among older people that explores the dynamic relationships between health and functioning, social networks and participation, and economic position as people plan for, move into and progress beyond retirement. The main objectives of ELSA are to: construct waves of accessible and well-documented panel data; provide these data in a convenient and timely fashion to the scientific and policy research community; describe health trajectories, disability and healthy life expectancy in a representative sample of the English population aged 50 and over; examine the relationship between economic position and health; investigate the determinants of economic position in older age; describe the timing of retirement and post-retirement labour market activity; and understand the relationships between social support, household structure and the transfer of assets. Further information may be found on the ELSA project website, the or Natcen Social Research: ELSA web pages. Wave 11 data has been deposited - May 2025 For the 45th edition (May 2025) ELSA Wave 11 core and pension grid data and documentation were deposited. Users should note this dataset version does not contain the survey weights. A version with the survey weights along with IFS and financial derived datasets will be deposited in due course. In the meantime, more information about the data collection or the data collected during this wave of ELSA can be found in the Wave 11 Technical Report or the User Guide. Wave 10 Accelerometry data has been deposited - August 2025 For the 46th edition (August 2025) ELSA Wave 10 Accelerometry data and documentation, along with a new version of the Wave 10 Technical Report, have been deposited. Between June 2021 and October 2022, approximately 75% of ELSA households (including core members and partners) were randomly selected and invited to wear an Axivity AX3 tri-axial accelerometer for eight days and nights. Accelerometer has been used to objectively measure movement behaviours for the first time in ELSA. Four datasets including data collected by accelerometers were deposited. Datasets include: output from the Biobank accelerometer analysis (bbaa), and 24 hour movement behaviours; the step count data; overnight sleep and sleep stage data.Wave 10 HCAP2 End of Life data has been deposited - September 2025:For the 47th edition (September 2025), the HCAP2 (Wave 10) End of Life interview data and questionnaire documentation were deposited. The End of Life interview completes the information collected at previous waves of ELSA by interviewing a close friend or relative of the deceased ELSA sample member after their death. Previous End of Life interviews were carried out alongside Waves 2, 3, 4, and 6 of ELSA. The fieldwork for HCAP2 (Wave 10) End of Life took place between 2022-2024. For more information please refer to the questionnaire documentation. The End of Life User Guide will be updated at a later date.  Health conditions research with ELSA - June 2021 The ELSA Data team have found some issues with historical data measuring health conditions. If you are intending to do any analysis looking at the following health conditions, then please  read the ELSA User Guide or if you still have questions contact elsadata@natcen.ac.uk for advice on how you should approach your analysis. The affected conditions are: eye conditions (glaucoma; diabetic eye disease; macular degeneration; cataract), CVD conditions (high blood pressure; angina; heart attack; Congestive Heart Failure; heart murmur; abnormal heart rhythm; diabetes; stroke; high cholesterol; other heart trouble) and chronic health conditions (chronic lung disease; asthma; arthritis; osteoporosis; cancer; Parkinson's Disease; emotional, nervous or psychiatric problems; Alzheimer's Disease; dementia; malignant blood disorder; multiple sclerosis or motor neurone disease). For information on obtaining data from ELSA that are not held at the UKDS, see the ELSA Genetic data access and Accessing ELSA data webpages. Harmonized dataset: Users of the Harmonized dataset who prefer to use the Stata version will need access to Stata MP software, as the version G3 file contains 11,779 variables (the limit for the standard Stata 'Intercooled' version is 2,047). ELSA COVID-19 study: A separate ad-hoc study conducted with ELSA respondents, measuring the socio-economic effects/psychological impact of the lockdown on the aged 50+ population of England, is also available under SN 8688, English Longitudinal Study of Ageing COVID-19 Study.

Main Topics:

For a full table of topics and questions covered across all the ELSA waves, see the all waves user guide in the documentation. Standard Measures used in ELSA: Rose Angina Questionnaire: Rose, G. and Blackburn, H. (1986) Cardiovascular survey methods, World Health Organization MonographEdinburgh Claudication Questionnaire: Leng, G. and Fowkes, F. (1992) 'The Edinburgh Claudication Questionnaire: an improved version of the WHO/Rose Questionnaire for use in epidemiological surveys', Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 45, pp.1101-1109MRC Respiratory Questionnaire: Fletcher, C. et al. (1978) The natural history of chronic bronchitis and emphysema, Oxford: Oxford University PressCES-D Depression Scale (8-item): Rasloff, L.S. (1977) 'The CES-D Scale: a self-report depression scale for research in the general population', Applied Psychological Measurement, 1(3), pp.270-278General Health Questionnaire (12-item): Goldberg, D.P. Manual of the General Health Questionnaire, Windsor: NFER-Nelson, 1978CASP-19: Hyde, M. et al. (2003) 'A measure of quality of life in early old age: the theory, development and properties of a needs satisfaction model [CASP-19]', Ageing and Mental Health, 7, pp.186-194Ryff Scale of Psychological Wellbeing: Ryff, C.D. (1989) 'Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological wellbeing', Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57, pp.1069-1081, and Ryff, C.D. and Keyes, C.L. (1995) 'The structure of psychological wellbeing revisited', Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69(4), pp.719-727

Multi-stage stratified random sample

Telephone interview: Computer-assisted (CATI)

Face-to-face interview: Computer-assisted (CAPI/CAMI)

Face-to-face interview: Paper-and-pencil (PAPI)