title: The MRC National Survey of Health and Development reaches age 70: maintaining participation at older ages in a birth cohort study.
abstract: A life course approach to ageing relies on maintaining participation rates in national birth cohorts and other long-term longitudinal studies. This reduces the risk of selective attrition biasing associations between lifetime risk factors and health outcomes in later life and ensures the studies remain as representative as possible of the original population. We report the participation patterns for a postal questionnaire and home visit at 68-69 years of study members in the MRC National Survey of Health and Development, the oldest and longest-running British birth cohort study. We investigated how participation varied by lifetime and recent contact, health status, previous clinical feedback and study engagement, taking account of prior socioeconomic and cognitive characteristics. Overall participation and home visit participation remained high (94 and 80%, respectively) and there were no gender differences. Participation was higher in those with higher levels of prior contact and lower in those with the poorest health status. Having previously received clinical feedback on actionable blood results was associated with reduced home visit participation but other forms of clinical feedback were not associated with subsequent participation. Activities that fostered study engagement were associated with increased home visit participation. These findings inform strategies to maintain participation in life course studies.
authors.affiliation: MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing at UCL, 33 Bedford Place, London, WC1B 5JU, UK. d.kuh@ucl.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Diana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kuh
authors.affiliation: MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing at UCL, 33 Bedford Place, London, WC1B 5JU, UK.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.affiliation: MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing at UCL, 33 Bedford Place, London, WC1B 5JU, UK.
authors.forename: Imran
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Shah
authors.affiliation: MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing at UCL, 33 Bedford Place, London, WC1B 5JU, UK.
authors.forename: Adam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.affiliation: MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing at UCL, 33 Bedford Place, London, WC1B 5JU, UK.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Popham
authors.affiliation: MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing at UCL, 33 Bedford Place, London, WC1B 5JU, UK.
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Curran
authors.affiliation: MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing at UCL, 33 Bedford Place, London, WC1B 5JU, UK.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.affiliation: MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing at UCL, 33 Bedford Place, London, WC1B 5JU, UK.
authors.forename: Nikhil
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.affiliation: MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing at UCL, 33 Bedford Place, London, WC1B 5JU, UK.
authors.forename: Marcus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Richards
authors.affiliation: MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing at UCL, 33 Bedford Place, London, WC1B 5JU, UK.
authors.forename: Mai
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stafford
authors.affiliation: MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing at UCL, 33 Bedford Place, London, WC1B 5JU, UK.
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hardy
authors.affiliation: MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing at UCL, 33 Bedford Place, London, WC1B 5JU, UK.
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cooper
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004739:England; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006304:Health Status; D006306:Health Surveys / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D012606:Scotland; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014852:Wales
keywords: Attrition; Birth cohort; Life course epidemiology; Longitudinal study; Older adults; Participation