50-year-old men in Gothenburg - men of 1913

Summary

The study of men born in 1913 and their successors, men born in 1923, 1933, 1943 and 1953 provide opportunities to explore how living conditions have changed over four decades and what health effects these changes have had. From the start of the 60th century, the data have given opportunities to explore trends, as well as in cross-section as longitudinally. Strengths and limitations of the study “The present study has several strengths, including a prospective design, availability of a large number of potential predictors, an extended follow-up and a complete mortality follow-up. Additionally, the general population sample with an almost uniquely high attendance rate provides possibilities to generalize to the background population of men of similar age in the city and probably also to other men in general. However, there are also limitations, chiefly a comparatively limited study population, but also the fact that all were men of similar age and almost exclusively of Caucasian origin. Whilst this is, in some respects, a strength, reducing random variation in heterogeneous strata, it is also a limitation reducing the possibility to generalize the findings not only with respect to gender and age, but also to location and time period. Another limitation is that we were not able to assess quality of life including the presence of Alzheimer’s disease in the surviving men. In summary, we found several modifiable lifestyle factors, such as smoking and diet-related serum cholesterol levels, as well as socio-economic status and physical working capacity to be significantly associate with survival until age 90. However, we did not find that parental survival was of significant importance for survival amongst these men, and therefore, lifestyle factors seem to be more important than familial ? genetic factors” (Factors associated with reaching 90 years of age: a study of men born in 1913 in Gothenburg, Sweden; Journal of internal medicine; 10.1111/j.1365-2796.2010.02331.x L. Wilhelmsen1, K.Sva¨ rdsudd2, H. Eriksson1, A. Rosengren1, P.-O. Hansson1, C.Welin1, A.Ode´n3&L. Welin4).

Type of data

Data Source
Registry

Type of Study
Survey same
Crosssection regular

Data gathering method
Face-to-face
Registries
Self administered questionnaire
Other: Medical examination/health status

Access to data

Conditions of access

Type of available data (e.g. anonymised microdata, aggregated tables, etc.)
Usually anonymised microdata, aggregated tables.

Formats available
Dataset is compatible to various applications: ASCII, CSV, Excel, SAS, SPSS, STATA, Text, etc.

Coverage

Coverage Years of collection, reference years, and sample sizes
To investigate coronary risk factors and the development of coronary disease in a group of Swedish urban men in the same age: 50 years. To the sampling in 2003 also women were invited. Starting in 1963 and with 10-year intervals, five population samples of men aged 50 and living in the city of Gothenborg, Sweden, were examined with respect to cardiovascular risk factors. In 1963, 973 men were invited. 855 of these took part in the study (88%). Clinical examinations were conducted at baseline and thereafter at 54 (1967), 60 (1973), 67 (1980), 75 (1988) and 80 years of age (1993). At every examination a number of questionnaires were filled in. For the 1973 study, 10% of all men born in 1923 were invited, providing a sample of 292, of which 226 (77%) participated. For the 1983 and 1993 studies, a random sample of half of all men in the city born in 1933 and 1943 were invited; 776 (76%) and 798 (55%), respectively, participated. In 2003 random third of all men (n =993) and women (n = 994) born in 1953 were invited. Participation rate was 60% among the men and 67% among the women. http://www.sahlgrenska.gu.se/digitalAssets/1326/1326464_factors-associated-with-reaching-90-years-of-age.pdf There are 16 datasets with the following characteristics: Dataset 001: Study of men born in 1913 2910 variables. 855 cases. 1963 - 1993 (Clinical examination) 1963 - 1993 (Self-completed questionnaire) 1963 - 2012 (Extracts from registers) Dtataset 002: Study of men born in 1923 2247 variables. 226 cases. 1973 - 1993 (Clinical examination) 1973 - 1993 (Self-completed questionnaire) 1973 - 2012 (Extracts from registers) Data and questionnaire are in Swedish. Dataset 003: Study of men born in 1933 466 variables. 775 cases. 1983 - 1992 (Clinical examination) 1983 - 1992 (Self-completed questionnaire) 1983 - 2012 (Extracts from registers) Data and questionnaire are in Swedish. Dataset 004: Study of Sons to Men born in 1913 263 cases. 1973 - 1993 (Self-completed questionnaire) 1973 - 2012 (Extracts from registers) 1993-01 - 1993-12 (Clinical examination) Data and questionnaire are in Swedish. Dataset 005: Study of men born in 1943 560 variables. 798 cases. 1993 - 2004 (Clinical examination) 1993 - 2004 (Self-completed questionnaire) 1993 - 2012 (Extracts from registers) Dataset 006: Study of men born in 1953 201 variables. 593 cases. 60% response frequency. 2003 - 2012 (Extracts from registers) 2003-08 - 2004-12 (Clinical examination) 2003-08 - 2004-12 (Self-completed questionnaire) Dataset 007: Study of women born in 1953 201 variables. 667 cases. 67% response frequency. 2003 - 2012 (Extracts from registers) 2003-08 - 2004-12 (Clinical examination) 2003-08 - 2004-12 (Self-completed questionnaire) Data are in Swedish. Dataset 008: Study of men born in 1913, 1963 study 177 variables. 855 cases. 88% response frequency. 1963-01 - 1963-12 (Clinical examination) 1963-01 - 1963-12 (Self-completed questionnaire) Data are in Swedish. Dataset 009: Study of men born in 1913, 1967 study 420 variables. 792 cases. 92% response frequency. 1967-01 - 1967-12 (Self-completed questionnaire: Paper/pencil) 1967-01 - 1967-12 (Clinical examination) Dataset 010: Study of men born in 1913 and their sons and men born in 1923, 1973 study 1123 variables. 1145 cases. 84% response frequency. 1973-01 - 1973-12 (Self-completed questionnaire: Paper/pencil) 1973-01 - 1973-12 (Clinical examination) Dataset 011: Study of men born in 1913 and men born in 1923, 1980 study 819 cases. 1980-01 - 1980-12 (Clinical examination) 1980-01 - 1980-12 (Self-completed questionnaire) Dataset 012: Study of men born in 1933, 1983 study 171 variables. 775 cases. 76% response frequency. 1983-01 - 1983-12 (Self-completed questionnaire: Paper/pencil) 1983-01 - 1983-12 (Clinical examination) Dataset 013: Study of men born in 1913 and men born in 1923, 1988 study 1988-01 - 1988-12 (Self-completed questionnaire: Paper/pencil) 1988-01 - 1988-12 (Clinical examination) Dataset 014: Study of men born in 1933, 1991 study 295 variables. 602 cases. 1991-01 - 1991-12 (Self-completed questionnaire: Paper/pencil) 1991-01 - 1991-12 (Clinical examination) Dataset 015: Study of men born in 1913 and their sons, and men born in 1923 and 1943, 1993 study 1993-01 - 1993-12 (Self-completed questionnaire: Paper/pencil) 1993-01 - 1993-12 (Clinical examination) Dataset 016: Study of Men born in 1943 and Men and Women born in 1953, 2004 survey 1917 cases. 2003-08 - 2004-12 (Self-completed questionnaire: Paper/pencil) 2003-08 - 2004-12 (Clinical examination)

First year of collection
1963

Stratification if applicable
Men in Göte from 1963; beginning in 2003, women were also included

Base used for sampling

Geographical coverage and breakdowns
Göteborg area

Age range
Individuals aged 50 and over

Statistical representativeness
Regional representative, please specify

Coverage of main and cross-cutting topics
Men of 1913 and their successors, men born in 1923, 1933, 1943 and 1953, is an example of our traditional Gothenburg studies. These studies provide opportunities to explore how living conditions have changed over four decades and what health effects these changes have had. From its inception in the 60s, these data provided opportunities to examine trends, as well as in cross-section longitudinally. These studies have resulted in over 400 scientific articles and 12 dissertations.

Linkage

Standardisation
ICD and ADL

Possibility of linkage among databases
Good opportunities to link to other data sets if ethical and technical concerns are respected and decided on in a formal way.

Data quality

Entry errors if applicable

Breaks

Consistency of terminology or coding used during collection

Governance

Contact information
Lars Wilhelmsen / Department of Emergency and Cardiovascular Medicine
University of Gothenburg

Sweden Phone: +46 (0)31 3434000
Email: lars.wilhelmsen(at)gu.se
Url: http://snd.gu.se/en/catalogue/study/SND0010

Timeliness, transparency
To be discussed with principal investigator.