Stockholm Birth Cohort Study 1953—2003: A new tool for life-course studies

Abstract

Aims: To create a new tool for life-course studies of health outcomes as well as social outcomes. Methods: Two anonymous data sets, one a local birth cohort and the other a nationwide registry, covering information from early and middle life, respectively, were matched using a ``key for probability matching'' based on a large number of variables, common to both data sets. The first data set provides social and health information from birth, childhood, and adolescence on boys and girls, born in Stockholm in 1953. The second data set provides information on income, work, and education as well as any inpatient visits and any mortality from mid-life for the entire Swedish population. Results: For 96% of the original cohort it was possible to add data from mid-life. Thus, a new database has been created, referred to as the Stockholm Birth Cohort Study, which provides rich and unique life-course data from birth to age 50 for 14,294 individuals: 7,305 men and 6,989 women. Comparison of matched and unmatched cases in the original cohort suggests that those individuals that could not be matched had slightly more favourable social and intellectual circumstances and had often moved away from Sweden in the 1980s. Conclusion: The new database provides excellent opportunities for life-course studies on health and social outcomes. It allows for studies that have not previously been possible in Sweden or elsewhere. Further, it provides an opportunity for collaborative work with similar databases in Copenhagen and Aberdeen.

Keywords

Adolescence childhood cognition health income life course mid-life mortality probability matching social assistance work

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Janson C-G. Project Metropolitan. In: Janson C-G , editor. Seven Swedish Longitudinal Studies in the Behavioral Sciences . Stockholm: Swedish Council for Planning and Coordination of Research, 2000.

Svalastoga K. Prestige, class, and mobility. Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 1959.

Svalastoga K. Social differentiation. In: Faris, REL , editor. Modern handbook of sociology. New York: David McKay ; 1964. p. 530—75.

Boalt G. Skolutbildning och skolresultat. Stockholm: Norstedts, 1947.

Husén T. Testresultatens prognosvärde. Lund: Gebers, 1950.

Härnqvist K. Beräkning av reserver for högre utbildning . SOU 1958;11:7—92.

Atkins E. , et al. The 1946 British Birth Cohort. In: Mednick SA , Baert AE , Bachmann BE , editors. Prospective longitudinal research. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 1981. p. 25—30.

Douglas JWB. Maternity in Great Britain. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1948.

Douglas JWB , Blomfeld JM Children under Five. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1958.

10.

Flanagan JL , et al. Design for a study of American youth. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1962.

11.

Steel L. , Wise L. Project Talent, 1960. In: Young CH , Savola K , Phelps E , editors. Inventory of longitudinal studies in the social sciences. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications, 1991.

12.

Girod R. , Tofigh R. Family background and income, school career and social mobility of young males of working-class origin. Acta Sociologica 1965;9:93—109.

13.

Illsley R. , Wilson R. The Aberdeen Child Development Survey. In: Mednick SA , Baert AE , Bachmann BE , editors. Prospective longitudinal research. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1984.

14.

Fogelman K. , Wedge R. The National Child Development Study (1958 British Cohort). In: Mednick SA , Baert AE , Bachmann BE , editors. Prospective longitudinal research. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 1984. p. 30—43.

15.

Osler M. , Nybo Andersen A-M. , Lund R. , Batty D. , Ørsted H. , Trab Damsgaard M. , Due P. , Holstein BE Revitalising the Metropolitan 1953 Danish male birth cohort: background, aims and design. Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology 2004.

16.

Nitsch D. , Morton S. , DeStavola B. , Clark H. , Leon D. How good is probabilistic record linkage to reconstruct reproductive histories? Results from the Aberdeen Children of the 1950s study. BMC Medical Research Methodology 2006;6:15, [Epub ahead of print], 2006.

17.

Batty D. , et al. The Aberdeen Children of the 1950s cohort study: Background, methods and follow-up information on a new resource for the study of life course and intergenerational influences on health. Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology 2004;18:221—39.