The Hertfordshire Cohort Study: an overview.

The Hertfordshire Cohort Study is a nationally unique study of men and women born in the English county of Hertfordshire in the early part of the 20 century. Records that detail their health in infancy and childhood have been preserved, their sociodemographic, lifestyle, medical and biological attributes have been characterised in later life, and routinely collected data on their hospital use and mortality have been acquired. This paper provides an overview of the study since its inception in the 1980s, including its methods, findings, and plans for its future.

Identification of risk factors for hospital admission using multiple-failure survival models: a toolkit for researchers.

Background: The UK population is ageing; improved understanding of risk factors for hospital admission is required. Linkage of the Hertfordshire Cohort Study (HCS) with Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data has created a multiple-failure survival dataset detailing the characteristics of 2,997 individuals at baseline (1998-2004, average age 66 years) and their hospital admissions (regarded as 'failure events') over a 10 year follow-up. Analysis of risk factors using logistic regression or time to first event Cox modelling wastes information as an individual's admissions after their first are disregarded.

Grip strength among community-dwelling older people predicts hospital admission during the following decade.

Background: Lower grip strength on admission to hospital is known to be associated with longer stay, but the link between customary grip and risk of future admission is less clear.

Objective: To compare grip strength with subsequent risk of hospital admission among community-dwelling older people in a U.K.

Understanding poor health behaviours as predictors of different types of hospital admission in older people: findings from the Hertfordshire Cohort Study.

Background: Rates of hospital admission are increasing, particularly among older people. Poor health behaviours cluster but their combined impact on risk of hospital admission among older people in the UK is unknown.

Methods: 2997 community-dwelling men and women (aged 59-73) participated in the Hertfordshire Cohort Study (HCS).

Understanding NHS hospital admissions in England: linkage of Hospital Episode Statistics to the Hertfordshire Cohort Study.

Background: concern over the sustainability of the National Health Service (NHS) is often focussed on rising numbers of hospital admissions, particularly among older people. Hospital admissions are enumerated routinely by the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) Service, but published data do not allow individual-level service use to be explored. This study linked information on Hertfordshire Cohort Study (HCS) participants with HES inpatient data, with the objective of describing patterns and predictors of admissions among individuals.

Muscle strength in older community-dwelling men is related to type of milk feeding in infancy.

Background: There is a growing literature that links greater duration and exclusivity of breastfeeding to beneficial effects on adult health outcomes. Muscle growth in the neonatal period may be very sensitive to variations in early nutrition, but little is known about long-term effects of infant feeding on muscle strength.

Methods: In 2,983 community-dwelling older men and women born 1931-1939, we examined the relationship between their type of milk feeding in infancy and their muscle strength in adult life.

Markers of inflammatory status are associated with hearing threshold in older people: findings from the Hertfordshire Ageing Study.

Background: Age-related hearing loss is a common disabling condition but its causes are not well understood and the role of inflammation as an influencing factor has received little consideration in the literature.

Objective: To investigate the association between inflammatory markers and hearing in community-dwelling older men and women.

Design: Cross-sectional analysis within a cohort study.