Skip to main content
PMC home page
Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health logoLink to Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
. 1992 Jun;46(3):300–304. doi: 10.1136/jech.46.3.300

Loss and representativeness in a 43 year follow up of a national birth cohort.

M E Wadsworth 1, S L Mann 1, B Rodgers 1, D J Kuh 1, W S Hilder 1, E J Yusuf 1
PMCID: PMC1059572  PMID: 1645091

Abstract

STUDY OBJECTIVE--The aim was to describe rates of loss and assessment of representativeness during 43 years of a national birth cohort study. DESIGN--The study population is a class stratified random sample of all single, legitimate births that occurred during one single week in 1946; it has been studied at regular intervals, so far to 1989. MAIN RESULTS--Losses through death and emigration were comparable to those in the national population of the same age. Response rates from the population resident in Britain have remained high, and the responding population is in most respects representative of the native population born in the early postwar years. Response rates within some serious physical illnesses did not differ from those of the healthy population. CONCLUSIONS--The continuing high response rate and representativeness of this national birth cohort is likely to be the result of home based data collections and of the regular contact to provide feedback of information and to check addresses of the study population.

Full text

PDF
300

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Barker D. J., Bull A. R., Osmond C., Simmonds S. J. Fetal and placental size and risk of hypertension in adult life. BMJ. 1990 Aug 4;301(6746):259–262. doi: 10.1136/bmj.301.6746.259. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Barker D. J., Osmond C. Childhood respiratory infection and adult chronic bronchitis in England and Wales. Br Med J (Clin Res Ed) 1986 Nov 15;293(6557):1271–1275. doi: 10.1136/bmj.293.6557.1271. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Barker D. J., Osmond C., Golding J., Kuh D., Wadsworth M. E. Growth in utero, blood pressure in childhood and adult life, and mortality from cardiovascular disease. BMJ. 1989 Mar 4;298(6673):564–567. doi: 10.1136/bmj.298.6673.564. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Barker D. J., Osmond C. Infant mortality, childhood nutrition, and ischaemic heart disease in England and Wales. Lancet. 1986 May 10;1(8489):1077–1081. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(86)91340-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Britten N., Morgan K., Fenwick P. B., Britten H. Epilepsy and handicap from birth to age 36. Dev Med Child Neurol. 1986 Dec;28(6):719–728. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8749.1986.tb03923.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Emanuel I. Maternal health during childhood and later reproductive performance. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1986;477:27–39. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1986.tb40318.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Lindgärde F., Furu M., Ljung B. O. A longitudinal study on the significance of environmental and individual factors associated with the development of essential hypertension. J Epidemiol Community Health. 1987 Sep;41(3):220–226. doi: 10.1136/jech.41.3.220. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Marmot M. G., Rose G., Shipley M., Hamilton P. J. Employment grade and coronary heart disease in British civil servants. J Epidemiol Community Health. 1978 Dec;32(4):244–249. doi: 10.1136/jech.32.4.244. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Pless I. B., Cripps H. A., Davies J. M., Wadsworth M. E. Chronic physical illness in childhood: psychological and social effects in adolescence and adult life. Dev Med Child Neurol. 1989 Dec;31(6):746–755. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8749.1989.tb04070.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Rodgers B. Behaviour and personality in childhood as predictors of adult psychiatric disorder. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 1990 Mar;31(3):393–414. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.1990.tb01577.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Shaper A. G., Ashby D., Pocock S. J. Blood pressure and hypertension in middle-aged British men. J Hypertens. 1988 May;6(5):367–374. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Wadsworth M. E., Cripps H. A., Midwinter R. E., Colley J. R. Blood pressure in a national birth cohort at the age of 36 related to social and familial factors, smoking, and body mass. Br Med J (Clin Res Ed) 1985 Nov 30;291(6508):1534–1538. doi: 10.1136/bmj.291.6508.1534. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Wadsworth M. E. Follow-up of the first national birth cohort: findings from the Medical Research Council National Survey of Health and Development. Paediatr Perinat Epidemiol. 1987 Apr;1(1):95–117. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-3016.1987.tb00093.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Wadsworth M. E., Rodgers B. Longterm follow-up studies; a critical overview. Rev Epidemiol Sante Publique. 1989;37(5-6):533–547. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES