Longitudinal data for interdisciplinary ageing research. Design of the Linnaeus Database

Abstract

To allow for interdisciplinary research on the relations between socioeconomic conditions and health in the ageing population, a new anonymized longitudinal database - the Linnaeus Database - has been developed at the Centre for Population Studies at Umeå University. This paper presents the database and its research potential.
Using the Swedish personal numbers the researchers have, in collaboration with Statistics Sweden and the National Board for Health and Welfare, linked individual records from Swedish register data on death causes, hospitalization and various socioeconomic conditions with two databases - Betula and VIP (Västerbottens Intervention Programme) - previously developed by the researchers at Umeå University. Whereas Betula includes rich information about e.g. cognitive functions, VIP contains information about e.g. lifestyle and health indicators. POPULATION AND SAMPLE SIZE: The Linnaeus Database includes annually updated socioeconomic information from Statistics Sweden registers for all registered residents of Sweden for the period 1990 to 2006, in total 12,066,478. The information from the Betula includes 4,500 participants from the city of Umeå and VIP includes data for almost 90,000 participants. Both datasets include cross-sectional as well as longitudinal information. POTENTIAL: Due to the coverage and rich information, the Linnaeus Database allows for a variety of longitudinal studies on the relations between, for instance, socioeconomic conditions, health, lifestyle, cognition, family networks, migration and working conditions in ageing cohorts.
By joining various datasets developed in different disciplinary traditions new possibilities for interdisciplinary research on ageing emerge.

Full text

Gunnar Malmberg
Ageing and Living Conditions Programme/ Centre for Population Studies
Umeå University, Sweden
Presentation SIMSAM Umeå, October 19th 2011
Longitudinal Data for Interdisciplinary Ageing Research
- the Design of the Linnaeus Database
Ageing and Living Conditions Programme

Today
Ageing and Living Conditions Programme (ALC)
Linnaeus Database
Research on the Linnaeus Database
Ageing and Living Conditions Programme

Ageing and Living Conditions Programme
Interdisciplinary Research programme, started in 2007
Financed through a ”Linnaeus Grant”
Psychology, Epidemiology, Demography, Geography, Economics,
Statistics, History, Ethnology
Within the Centre for Population Studies (CPS),
Umeå University
Carl Linnaeus
Ageing and Living Conditions Programme

Psychology
Betula
Cognition
Successful
Ageing
Epidemiology
Västerbotten
Intervention
Programme
Death,
hospitalisation
Health
Life style
Social Sciences
Register
data (SCB)
Population
dynamics
Socio-economic
conditions
Historical
demography
Historical
demographic
database (DDB)
Long-term
trends of
demographic
behaviuor
Humanities
Qualitative
methods
Images and
positions of the
elderly people
in different
contexts
Ageing and Living Condition (ALC)
Ageing and Living Conditions Programme

Three Themes
Population Ageing
•Mortality
•Fertility
•Migration
Participation of the Elderly
•Labour Market
•Leisure
•Social relations
•Society
Living conditions
Successful Ageing
•Health
•Cognition
•Economy
•Network
•Care
Ageing and Living Conditions Programme

Living conditions of elderly people
Ageing and Living Conditions Programme
Economic
conditions
Health Cognitive functions Social networks
Living conditions
of elderly people

Living conditions of elderly people
Ageing and Living Conditions Programme
•Current living conditions
•Trends in living conditions of the elderly
•Social gap (Cumulative Advantage/Disadvantage)

Living conditions of elderly people
Ageing and Living Conditions Programme
Living conditions
of elderly people
The Life Course
Cognitive functions
Health
Economic conditions
Social networks
Working life
Mobility
Neighbourhood/ Regions

Betula
•Cognitive functions
•Health
•Socio-economic
•Daily living
•Leisure activities
•Critical life events
•4,500
Västerbotten
Intervention
Programme (VIP)
•Self reported health
•Life style
•Living conditions
•Quality of life
•Socio-economic variables
•Network, Social support
•89,000
Register data from
National Board
of Health and Welfare
•Hospitalisation
•Death Causes
The Linnaeus Database
Links on individual level
Anonymized data
Register data from
Statistics Sweden
•Demographic data
•Socio-economic data
•Family data
•Work data
•Geographical information
•Grades
•Total population
12,066,478
Ageing and Living Conditions Programme

Betula
Examine changes in cognition and health across the adult age span
(25 –100 yrs)
Identify early cognitive predictors of dementia and risk factors of
dementia
Characterize successful aging
Ageing and Living Conditions Programme

Betula
Developed by Lars-Göran
Nilsson, Department of
Psychology, Umeå University
Include about 4500
participants from the city of
Umeå and its surroundings
Longitudinal data, five years
update
Health examination
current & past health
self-reported measures
social variables
critical life events
Cognitive testing
Ageing and Living Conditions Programme

Betula, samples and waves
T1 (1988-90) S1
T2 (1993-95) S1 S2 S3
(86%)
T3 (1998-00) S1 S2 S3 S4
(85%) (86%) (83%)
T4 (2003-05) S1 S3 S5
(84%) (84%)
T5 (2008-10) S1 S3 S6
Ageing and Living Conditions Programme

Västerbotten Intervention Program
Västerbotten county
CVD and diabetes
Since 1985
 89,000 participants
All 40, 50, 60- y.o.
Integrated in primary care routines
Ageing and Living Conditions Programme

Health examination in VIP
•Measurements:
•Blood lipids (s-cholesterol, triglycerides)
•Blood pressure
•Body Mass Index, Waist
•Oral Glucose Tolerance
•Questionnaire:
•SES
•Social network and interaction
•Self-reported health
•Lifestyle: physical activity,,
• tobacco, alcohol
(Food habits not available )
•Quality of life

Data from the National Board of Health and Welfare
Patient registry
Hospital
Diagnoses (main and bi-)
Op-codes
Length (days) of
hospitalization
Hosp. date
Cause-of-death registry
Date
Diagnoses (main and bi-)
Death place
Ageing and Living Conditions Programme

Ageing and Living Conditions Programme
Register data from Statistics Sweden
Individual data for the whole Swedish population (registered
residents)
Census data for 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990
Annual data from 1986 – 2009

Ageing and Living Conditions Programme
Register data from Statistics Sweden
Basic individual information
gender, age, place of birth (parish, country)
Socio-economic data
incomes, education, (un-)employment, pensions, allowances
Family data
partner, (adult) parents, children
Work place data
company id, work place id, coordinates (100m)
Place of Residence
coordinates (100m)
Grades

Linking individual data to
neighbourhood, work place and family data
Neighbourhood
data
Place of residence
100-meter coordinates
Work place
data
Family and household
data
Workplace ID
100-meter coordinates Family ID

Family Networks in the Linnaeus Database
Ageing and Living Conditions Programme
Sibling
Sibling
Sibling
Sibling
Child Child Child Child
Mother Father
Individual
Grand
child Grand
child Grand
child Grand
child
Sibling
Sibling
Sibling
Sibling
Mother Father
Partner
Child Child Child Child
Grand
child Grand
child
Grand
child Grand
child

Statistics Sweden
register data Patient and death
cause data VIP Betula
Geographical
extension Sweden Sweden Västerbotten
county Umeå
Number of
individuals Total national
population Total national
population 89 000 4500
Links on
individual level
Time coverage 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990
1990 - 2005 1980s - 2006 1985 –
1988-
Time resolution 10 years (60 -90)
Annual (90-06) Continuous 10 year updates 5 years
Spatial
resolution 100 meter squares
Kind of
information
Socio-economic
Income
Family (links)
Work
Residence etc.
Grades (School)
Hospital care
Death
Death cause
Health indicators
Life style
Living conditions
Socio-economic
Cognitive
function
Health
Socio-
economic
Ageing and Living Conditions Programme

VIP
89,680
Statistics Sweden
Data
12,066,478
Patient Registry
and
Death Cause Registry
Betula
4,500
Intersections of the databases
Overlap 1,691
Ageing and Living Conditions Programme

1935 2006
Age 70
•Place
of birth
•Family
•Socio-
economic
Indicator
1960
Age 25
•Family
•Socio-
economic
•Work
•Income
•Education
1990
•Family
•Socio-
economic
•Work
•Income
•Education
•Residence
•Health
•Cognition
•Life style
Age 55 Age 0
A life biography
Ageing and Living Conditions Programme
1970 1980

Advantages of the Linnaeus Database
Longitudinal analyses of the interrelations between health and socio-
economic conditions
Cognition, health and life style data in Betula and VIP
Health outcome in the Patient and Death Cause Registers
Rich socio-economic information in Statistics Sweden data
Create data of neighbourhoods and networks
Combination of individual, network, neighbourhood variables
Ageing and Living Conditions Programme

Advantages of the Linnaeus Database
Data on mobility, (residential, interregional, work places, separations etc)
Register data covers a longer period and has a higher time
resolution
Register data include the whole population
Drop out analysis
Data quality control
Ageing and Living Conditions Programme

“Family networks and retirement”
Xavier de Luna, ALC
Emma Lundholm, ALC
Gunnar Malmberg, ALC
Ingrid Svensson, ALC
“Labour market mobility in late
working life”
Emma Lundholm, ALC
Gunnar Malmberg, ALC
“Health outcome of migration and
labour market mobility among
middle aged”
Emma Lundholm, ALC
Gunnar Malmberg, ALC
Yulia Blomstedt, ALC
“Family networks, life style and
health”
Gunnar Malmberg ALC
Tom Chang, University of Southern California
Heather Royer, RAND Cooperation
“Inequality as a health risk –
longitudinal and geographical
perspectives"
Sören Edvinsson, ALC
Gunnar Malmberg, ALC
Erling Lundevaller, ALC
“Network effects on timing of
retirement”
Tom Chang, University of Southern California
Heather Royer, RAND Cooperation
Olle Westerlund, ALC
Projects based on the Linnaeus Database

“Network effects and the effects of
retirement on cognition”
Tom Chang, University of Southern California
Heather Royer, RAND Cooperation
Anna Sundström, ALC
“Educational attainment, grades and
health outcome”
Lauren Hersch Nicholas, University of Michigan
Yulia Blomstedt, ALC
Gunnar Malmberg, ALC
“Health, retirement and
widowhood. Using sequence
analysis to study life trajectories in
later life”
Nicola Barban, Università Bocconi, Milano
Xavier de Luna, ALC
Emma Lundholm, ALC
Ingrid Svensson, ALC
“Family networks, social support
and health”
Emma Lundholm, ALC
Yulia Blomstedt, ALC
“The agreement between dementia
diagnoses in the population based
Betula project and national register
data”
Anna Sundström, ALC
“Leisure activity and risk of cognitive
decline and dementia”
Anna Sundström, ALC
Projects based on the Linnaeus Database

“Stressful negative life events and
cognition”
Anna Sundström, ALC
“Correcting for attrition in Betula
studies “
Anna Sundström, ALC
Lars Nyberg, ALC
Xavier de Luna, ALC
“Regional differences in
intergenerational proximity and
employment transmission”
Emma Lundholm, ALC
“Social characteristics of
participants and non-participants in
VIP”
Margareta Norberg, ALC
Nawi Ng, ALC
“Participation vs non-participation in
a health intervention (VIP): Mortality
and CVD morbidity”
Margareta Norberg, ALC
Yulia Blomstedt
Nawi Ng, ALC
“Clustering of CVD riskfactors in
Västerbotten”
Margareta Norberg, ALC
Nawi Ng, ALC
Projects based on the Linnaeus Database

“Physical activity and cognitive
performance across the lifespan”
Anna Sundström, ALC
“Marital status and dementia
diseases”
Anna Sundström, ALC
Lars-Göran Nilsson, ALC
“Inspection time across the life
span”
Anna Sundström, ALC
Projects based on the Linnaeus Database

Future plans
Update the Linnaeus database
Extend the database
Links to the historical database,
Data for two regions from 1600s until today
Link to internationl survey data
SHARE-data
Swedish node
Ageing and Living Conditions Programme

Preconditions for using the data
Research only within the themes of ALC programme and the
research questions approved by the ethical committee:
Population ageing: consequences for needs of care and support
in different demographic scenarios
Impacts of health, cognition and socioeconomic conditions on
participation in society and working life
Effects of socioeconomic conditions on health and cognition in
ageing populations

Preconditions for using the data
Protect the integrity of the individuals in the database
All empircal analyses of micro data has to be carried in the data-lab
at ALC
Each project has to apply from the steering group to get access to a
specific data-set
Research has to be in collaboration with ALC researchers
Looking forward collaborations

Thank you!

Population Ageing
Focus on the family level
Malmberg G., Hjälm A. and Lundholm E.
Are the distances between adult children and elderely parents increasing?
Are three- and four-generation families more common today?
Who lives close to elderly parents and adult children?
How does geographical mobility influence the proximity between elderly
parents, adult children and grandchildren?
Does the presence of family members affect the health status of elderly
people?

Percent of 55-year olds having a living parent and/or
grandchild 1990-2005
Ageing and Living Conditions Programme
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004
Parents Grandchildren Parent and grandchild Childless

Ageing and Living Conditions Programme
Percentages having adult children living within 25 km at age 60,
by municipalities
Lundholm, E.

Participation
 Effects of education of older workers on timing of retirement and
earnings
De Luna X., Stenberg A. and Westerlund O.
Family Ties and Retirement in Sweden
Presence and proximity to adult children, grand-children or elderly parents:
consequences on the timing of retirement
Lundholm E. and Malmberg G.
Mobility in late working life
- consequences for retirement, income and health
Blomstedt Y., Lundholm E. and Malmberg G.

Change of workplace 2005 – 2006, age 20- 70
Source: linneus database
Ageing and Living Conditions Programme

Change of workplace 1991 – 1992 and 2005 – 2006, age 20- 70
Ageing and Living Conditions Programme

Successful Ageing
“Determinants of declining cognition”
Maria Johansson, Lars Nyberg, Ingrid Svensson
“Marital status and cognitive performance”
Anna Sundström and Hossein Mousavi-Nasab
“Effects of divorcing at high age on BMI”
Jenny Häggström, Olle Westerlund, Margareta Norberg
“Social networks and health”
Yulia Blomstedt, Emma Lundholm
“Tobacco consumption in ageing cohorts smoking or snuffing”
Margareta Norberg, Göran Broström, Gunnar Malmberg, Nawi Ng

Future plans, research and collaborations
Working in interdisciplinary research groups
Extending the research
More researchers within the programme, more funding
International collaborations
Extending the database
Longer time period
Links to the historical database
Ageing and Living Conditions Programme