Table 1.

Proportion (%) of respondents taking part in each wave by their baseline characteristics.

Baseline characteristics	Wave 1 1987/1988	Wave 2 1990/1992	Wave 3 1995/1997	Wave 4 2000/2004	Wave 5 2007/2008	Modelling dataa
% 1970s cohort	33.6	35.2	30.8	31.7	36.2	34.1
% 1950s cohort	32.0	31.9	34.5	36.8	38.4	33.3
% 1930s cohort	34.4	33.0	34.7	31.5	25.5	32.6
% men	46.5	46.1	44.6	45.0	44.6	46.2
% women	53.5	53.9	55.4	55.0	55.4	53.8
% good starting healthb	72.7	76.1	76.6	78.6	80.4	78.1
% poor starting healthb	23.4	22.8	22.3	20.3	18.2	20.8
% missing starting healthb	3.9	1.1	1.1	1.1	1.4	1.1
% non-manual classes	42.0	43.7	46.3	48.0	48.5	48.0
% manual classes	54.0	52.9	50.6	48.6	47.6	52.0
% missing class	4.0	3.5	3.1	3.5	3.9	N/A
% depcat 1 or 2 (affluent)	15.2	15.9	16.9	17.9	18.4	17.5
% depcat 3, 4 or 5	45.9	47.4	49.6	49.0	48.6	49.0
% depcat 6 or 7 (disadvantaged)	38.8	36.6	33.5	33.1	33.0	33.5
Total interviewed	4510	3820	2972	2661	2604	11607

^aData modelled as person-waves using Waves 2–5.

^bQuestion wording and response categories for self-rated health differed slightly for the 1970s cohort at baseline.