West of Scotland Twenty-07 Study

The Twenty-07 Study was established in 1987 to examine the social processes that produce or maintain differences in health by key social positions over time. The study is following three cohorts of people, living in and around Glasgow, for twenty years - initially aged 15, 35 and 55 and aged 35, 55 and 75 in 2007/08 in the final year of the Study. As a result, the Twenty-07 Study provides us with unique opportunities to:

examine the effect of people's circumstances on their health across 60 years of the life span
compare the experiences of different generations of people at the same points in history
explore the health of people of the same age at different points in time

The Twenty-07 Study has collected data on people's everyday lives. People in the Study have been interviewed every five years and asked questions about their paid and unpaid work, housing, income, family formation and composition, social support, cognitive functioning, life events, stress, leisure activities, health promoting and health damaging behaviours, beliefs and values, and many other material, cultural and psychological factors. In addition, nurses have measured their height, weight, girth, blood pressure, respiratory function and reaction times and respondents have told us about their general health, illnesses, operations, symptoms, disabilities and mental health. In the most recent wave of the Study, in addition to being asked about the topics above, respondents were asked to provide blood samples, which have been analysed to provide information on a range of important biological processes as well as genetic information.

These data are being used to explore how people's social circumstances affect different aspects of their health, and how changes in their circumstances and health influence each other over time.

In addition, we are working with colleagues to identify ways of encouraging people to take part in cohort studies and making the most effective use of data once we have collected them. For example, it is often suggested that providing study participants with individual feedback of their health results may encourage participation. We investigated the response of a subsample of 50 participants in the most recent wave of the Twenty-07 Study to receiving individual letters with their weight and blood results. While half of the participants were ‘pleased’ with their results or held neutral views, those who were overweight often reported being ‘shocked’ and upset and used the most negative language, with some reporting feelings of powerlessness, low self-image and anxiety over future health. Nevertheless, some people also reported having implemented lifestyle changes in direct response to the feedback, resulting in significant weight loss and/or dietary improvements. Overall, most people felt that the provision of their own health information was a positive factor is their participation in the study (more info).

Publications

Fuller N, Green MJ, Benzeval M. The West of Scotland Twenty-07 Study: the use of bioimpedance analysis for the measurement of body composition in Wave 5 Glasgow: MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit Working Paper no. 28, 2011.

Gray CM, Hunt K, Lorimer K, Anderson AS, Benzeval M, Wyke S. Words matter: a qualitative investigation of which weight status terms are acceptable and motivate weight loss when used by health professionals? BMC Public Health 2011; 11:513

open access

Lorimer K, Gray CM, Hunt K, Wyke S, Anderson A, Benzeval M. Response to written feedback of clinical data within a longitudinal study: a qualitative study exploring the ethical implications. BMC Medical Research Methodology 2011; 11:10.

pubmed open access

Seaman S, Benzeval M. The West of Scotland Twenty-07 Study: inverse probability weights for Wave 5. Glasgow: MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit Working Paper no 27, 2011.