Table 1

Characteristics of study participants according to individual cohort studies: follow-up of 18 cohort studies from the Health Survey for England and Scottish Health Survey (N=193 873)

		Health Survey for England																Scottish Health Survey
		1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	N	1995	1998	2003	N
Adults irrespective of consent status	N	15 804	16 055	16 443	8582	15 908	13 947	11 025	15 647	10 331	14 836	12 758	10 303	14 142	6882	15 102	197 765	7932	9040	8092	25 064
Household response	%	77	78	79	76	74	76	75	74	74	73	72	74	68	64	64		81*	77	67
Estimated adult interview response	%	71	73	75	71	69	70	68	67	67	66	66	64	61	58	58		93	92	91
Consented to mortality linkage	%	95.6	93.7	93.7	93.9	94.6	90.1	71.9	88.4	88.9	87.3	75.7	80.6	82.6	80.5	78.2	–	85.3	86.9	87.9	–
	N	15 113	15 036	15 411	8060	15 046	12 571	7931	13 835	9181	12 954	9661	8308	11 683	5542	11 807	172 139	6763	7857	7114	21 734
Follow-up (years)	Mean	15.0	14.2	13.4	12.6	11.7	11.2	9.3	9.2	8.3	7.3	6.4	5.4	4.5	3.5	2.5	172 139	13.8	10.6	5.7	21 734
	SD	3.9	3.6	3.2	2.8	2.6	1.8	2.8	1.6	1.2	1.2	0.8	0.9	0.6	0.4	0.3		2.2	2.0	0.9
Deaths from all causes		2924	2821	2640	1229	2177	963	1639	1393	593	970	367	699	477	173	172	172 139	638	934	536	21 734
Age	Mean	46.0	46.3	46.4	46.2	46.8	43.8	51.8	47.3	39.4	47.8	45.4	54.6	49.2	48.5	48.8	172 139	40.2	45.2	49.6	21 734
	SD	18.6	18.5	18.5	18.1	18.5	17.9	21.0	18.2	19.6	18.1	17.8	19.6	18.2	18.1	18.4		13.3	15.9	17.8
	Range	16–97	16–100	16–102	16–95	16–97	16–96	16–102	16–99	16–97	16–99	16–102	16–99	16–97	16–97	16–97		16–64	16–74	16–95
Female	%	54.4	54.1	54.1	54.0	54.7	54.0	56.0	54.7	55.8	55.2	56.2	54.7	55.0	55.2	55.4	172 139	55.1	55.9	55.8	21 734
Non-manual occupational social class (I–IIINM)	%	54.1	55.7	55.1	55.2	54.7	53.9	57.1	57.6	57.6	59.3	59.4	58.8	61.0	61.3	61.1	161 702	51.4	51.9	56.0	20 492
Left school ≥16 (approximates to compulsory education)	%	61.8	61.3	62.9	63.2	64.0	68.4	62.2	67.9	77.1	70.0	74.9	63.1	72.3	74.0	73.4	172 017	66.6	62.8	64.8	21 716
Current smoker	%	27.4	27.5	28.6	28.1	27.8	25.1	24.6	25.4	27.8	24.6	21.2	21.1	22.0	21.5	21.5	171 477	37.0	34.8	26.3	21 591
Drinks alcohol at least weekly	%	62.2	64.2	65.2	65.2	65.3	49.8	60.6	65.1	64.5	64.8	49.0	62.3	61.2	60.7	60.3	170 166	63.1	61.4	60.3	21 365
Self-assessed general health good or very good	%	76.4	76.3	76.4	74.5	74.1	71.9	71.9	74.5	77.5	75.1	73.1	71.1	74.6	74.2	74.8	172 101	75.7	74.6	71.8	21 734
Long-standing illness	%	39.5	41.8	42.7	44.5	44.2	41.6	47.4	46.0	40.2	47.4	43.7	52.7	46.2	45.9	45.6	172 095	37.0	43.3	44.2	21 734

*The sample design in 1995 selected only one adult randomly per household at random.