Table 2.
Descriptive statistics
| Sweden | Netherlands | United Kingdom | United States | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean | SD | Min. | Max. | Mean | SD | Min. | Max. | Mean | SD | Min. | Max. | Mean | SD | Min. | Max. | |
| Age and Cohort | ||||||||||||||||
| Age | 62 | 5.50 | 50 | 74 | 61 | 5.44 | 50 | 74 | 62 | 5.56 | 50 | 76 | 62 | 5.40 | 50 | 73 |
| Year of birth | 1946 | 4.37 | 1939 | 1954 | 1947 | 4.36 | 1939 | 1954 | 1945 | 4.36 | 1937 | 1952 | 1946 | 4.64 | 1939 | 1954 |
| Cohorta | 58 | 4.37 | 50 | 65 | 57 | 4.36 | 50 | 65 | 57 | 4.36 | 50 | 65 | 58 | 4.64 | 50 | 65 |
| Education | ||||||||||||||||
| Lower | .43 | .52 | .60 | .49 | ||||||||||||
| Intermediate | .30 | .24 | .26 | .26 | ||||||||||||
| Higher | .26 | .24 | .15 | .25 | ||||||||||||
| Health Measures | ||||||||||||||||
| Number of chronic conditions | 0.45 | 0.66 | 0 | 4 | 0.42 | 0.64 | 0 | 4 | 0.56 | 0.70 | 0 | 4 | 0.88 | 0.87 | 0 | 4 |
| High blood pressure | .30 | .26 | .39 | .53 | ||||||||||||
| Diabetes | .09 | .08 | .08 | .19 | ||||||||||||
| Stroke | .03 | .02 | .03 | .06 | ||||||||||||
| Lung disease | .03 | .06 | .06 | .09 | ||||||||||||
| Number of Functional Limitations | 0.83 | 1.58 | 0 | 10 | 0.87 | 1.70 | 0 | 10 | 1.64 | 2.39 | 0 | 10 | 2.17 | 2.50 | 0 | 10 |
| Walk 100 meters | .03 | .05 | .09 | .11 | ||||||||||||
| Sit 2 hours | .08 | .07 | .13 | .20 | ||||||||||||
| Get up from a chair | .13 | .13 | .22 | .37 | ||||||||||||
| Climb several flights of stairs | .10 | .13 | .29 | .37 | ||||||||||||
| Climb one flight of stairs | .03 | .07 | .10 | .13 | ||||||||||||
| Stoop, kneel, crouch | .23 | .17 | .32 | .41 | ||||||||||||
| Extend arms above shoulders | .05 | .06 | .10 | .14 | ||||||||||||
| Push or pull a large object | .04 | .06 | .14 | .21 | ||||||||||||
| Lift, carry weight over 5 kg | .11 | .13 | .19 | .18 | ||||||||||||
| Pick up a small coin from table | .02 | .02 | .04 | .06 | ||||||||||||
| Characteristics of the Sample | ||||||||||||||||
| Male | .46 | .46 | .46 | .42 | ||||||||||||
| Black | ––b | ––b | .03 | .21 | ||||||||||||
| Died | .02 | .01 | .07 | .08 | ||||||||||||
| Dropout | .44 | .50 | .39 | .20 | ||||||||||||
| Survey year | 2008 | 3.26 | 2004 | 2013 | 2008 | 3.26 | 2004 | 2013 | 2007 | 3.56 | 2002 | 2012 | 2008 | 2.83 | 2004 | 2012 |
| Number of waves | 3.42 | 1.47 | 1 | 5 | 3.26 | 1.61 | 1 | 5 | 4.42 | 1.91 | 1 | 6 | 4.38 | 1.15 | 1 | 5 |
| Number of Individuals | 1,551 | 1,669 | 5,831 | 7,836 | ||||||||||||
| Number of Observations | 5,298 | 5,443 | 28,828 | 34,322 | ||||||||||||
Notes: Data for Sweden and the Netherlands are from SHARE; data for the United Kingdom are from ELSA; and data for the United States are from HRS.
aCohort is defined as age at first observation.
bInformation on race was not available in Sweden and the Netherlands.