Longitudinal data for interdisciplinary ageing research. Design of the Linnaeus Database

Rationale: To allow for interdisciplinary research on the relations between socioeconomic conditions and health in the ageing population, a new anonymized longitudinal database - the Linnaeus Database - has been developed at the Centre for Population Studies at Umea University. This paper presents the database and its research potential. Design: Using the Swedish personal numbers the researchers have, in collaboration with Statistics Sweden and the National Board for Health and Welfare, linked individual records from Swedish register data on death causes, hospitalization and various socioeconomic conditions with two databases - Betula and VIP (Vasterbottens Intervention Programme) - previously developed by the researchers at Umea University. Whereas Betula includes rich information about e. g. cognitive functions, VIP contains information about e. g. lifestyle and health indicators. Population and sample size: The Linnaeus Database includes annually updated socioeconomic information from Statistics Sweden registers for all registered residents of Sweden for the period 1990 to 2006, in total 12,066,478. The information from the Betula includes 4,500 participants from the city of Umea and VIP includes data for almost 90,000 participants. Both datasets include cross-sectional as well as longitudinal information. Potential: Due to the coverage and rich information, the Linnaeus Database allows for a variety of longitudinal studies on the relations between, for instance, socioeconomic conditions, health, lifestyle, cognition, family networks, migration and working conditions in ageing cohorts. Conclusions: By joining various datasets developed in different disciplinary traditions new possibilities for interdisciplinary research on ageing emerge.