| AdminHistory | During 1973 and 1974, 1775 people in eight areas of Britain (five in England, two in Scotland, and one in Wales) were randomly sampled from family practitioner committees' lists of all patients aged 65 years and over. The areas were Islington, Harrow, Hastings, Bristol, Salford, Rutherglen, Angus, and Merthyr Tydfil. Stratified sampling was used to obtain equal numbers of men and women aged 65 to 74 and 75 and over.
Of the subjects selected, 1688 were living at home and were asked to take part in the study; 1419 (720 men, 699 women; 84%) of these agreed. In all, 983 (69%) of those who participated agreed to be examined by a geriatrician.
Participants kept a diary of every item of food or drink consumed over a week. They were given a set of scales to weigh each item. An interviewer visited them at least four times and administered a questionnaire on their socioeconomic circumstances. If the participants could not cope with the weighing procedure, the interviewer used the food diary to quantify their consumption; food purchases were used as a cross check. Nutrient intake was calculated with a food composition table compiled by the Department of Health and Social Security.
The geriatricians measured height, weight, and blood pressure and recorded current smoking habits and drug treatment in the past six months. A sample of blood was taken for biochemical analysis. Cognitive performance was measured with the Hodkinson abbreviated mental test.7 Ten people were excluded from this part of the examination owing to severe deafness, dysphasia, or language difficulties.
Dr Payne and Erica Wheeler from LSHTM were involved in the survey and the data was processed at LSHTM with the help of the School's statisticians. The survey was a follow-up study which continued from the original 1967-68 survey and was part of a longitudinal study of geriatric nutrition in the UK. |