English Longitudinal Study of Ageing: Waves 0-11, 1998-2024

 
<p>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:</p>
<ul>
<li>construct waves of accessible and well-documented panel data; </li><li>provide these data in a convenient and timely fashion to the scientific and policy research community;
</li><li>describe health trajectories, disability and healthy life expectancy in a representative sample of the English population aged 50 and over;
</li><li>examine the relationship between economic position and health; </li><li>investigate the determinants of economic position in older age; </li><li>describe the timing of retirement and post-retirement labour market activity; and
</li><li>understand the relationships between social support, household structure and the transfer of assets.
</li></ul>
<p>Further information may be found on the <a href="https://www.elsa-project.ac.uk/">
ELSA project</a> website, the or <a href="https://natcen.ac.uk/participant-contents/elsa-50-health-and-life">Natcen Social Research: ELSA</a> web pages.</p>
<p><b>ELSA COVID-19 study:</b></p>
<p>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, <a href="https://beta.ukdataservice.ac.uk/datacatalogue/studies/study?id=8688">English Longitudinal Study of Ageing COVID-19 Study</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Health conditions research with ELSA - June 2021</strong></p>
<p>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 <a href="mailto:[e-mail]">[e-mail]</a> 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).</p>
<p><b>Wave 10 Accelerometry data has been deposited - August 2025</b></p>
<p>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.</p>
<p><span><b>Wave 10 HCAP2 End of Life data has been deposited - September 2025</b></span></p>
<p>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. </p>
<p><b>December 2025 update to harmonized datasets</b></p>
<p>For the 48th edition (December 2025), Version H (2002-2023) of the Gateway Harmonized ELSA incorporates the latest released version of ELSA data, which includes eleven main modules and associated datasets. Variables and observations from Wave 10 have been added. The file contains 21,679 observations. New variables have been added, and adjustments and corrections made. For a full list of these please see the accompanying Gateway Harmonized ELSA Documentation (pp.4-7).</p>
<p>Version A.3 of the Gateway Harmonized ELSA End of Life and the accompanying Gateway Harmonized ELSA End of Life Documentation will be deposited in due course.</p>
<p><b>Harmonized datasets</b></p>
<p>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).</p>
<p><b>Wave 11 data has been updated - January 2026</b></p>
<p>For the 49th edition (January 2026), ELSA Wave 11 core and pension grid data and documentation were updated with weights alongside supporting documentation such as data dictionaries, questionnaire specifications and derived variable code. ELSA Wave 11 IFS and financial derived datasets, Life History 2 and Wave 11 Health Visit data have also been deposited with weights.  For more information about the data collection or the data collected during this wave of ELSA, please see the Wave 11 Technical Report or the User Guide which have been updated with this deposit.</p>
<p><b>Updates to multiple files and changes in access levels - March 2026</b></p>
<p>For the 50th edition (May 2026), a number of updates have been made to existing datafiles, and some geography files have been moved from Special Licence (SL) to End User Licence (EUL) to allow easier access to ELSA data.</p>
<p>- Binary Rural-Urban Indicators for 2001 and 2011 have been moved to EUL and can both be accessed with no overlap restrictions. These data can no longer be accessed under SNs <span>8433 and 8437. These data have been collated into 2 files with wave specific variables for Wave 1-11, with accompanying documentation.</span></p>
<p>- Quintile Indices of Multiple Deprivation have been moved to EUL and can no longer be accessed under SN 8431. <span>This data has been collated into 1 file with wave specific variables for Wave 1-11</span><span>, with accompanying documentation.</span></p>
<p>- Updates have been made to the core data for Wave 4 - 7 to account for the addition of Special License and Secure Access data for these waves, with accompanying documentation.</p>
<p>- Minor amendments have been made to the core Wave 11 data.</p>
<p>- Wave 11 End of Life data has now been made available, with accompanying documentation.</p>
<p>For information on obtaining data from ELSA that are not held at the UKDS, see the ELSA <a href="https://www.elsa-project.ac.uk/genetic-data-access">Genetic data access</a> and <a href="https://www.elsa-project.ac.uk/accessing-elsa-data">Accessing ELSA data</a> webpages.</p>
<p>For more information on changes to the catalogue of Special License and Secure Access ELSA data, please refer to the Special License and Secure Access User Guide, found under any ELSA SL/SA SN.</p>
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