The Second Longitudinal Study of Aging (LSOA II): Baseline (Second Supplement on Aging (SOA II), 1994-1996)
Investigators: National Center for Health Statistics

The original 1984-1990 Longitudinal Study of Aging (LSOA) was designed primarily to measure changes in the health, functional status, living arrangements, and health services utilization of two cohorts of Americans as they move into and through the oldest ages. The 1994-2000 Second Longitudinal Study of Aging (LSOA II), conducted ten years after the original LSOA, is a prospective study with a nationally representative sample comprised of 9,447 civilian non-institutionalized persons 70 years of age and over in 1995. The LSOA II followed this cohort of older persons through two follow-up interviews, conducted in 1997-98 (Wave 2) and 1999-2000 (Wave 3). The 1994 Second Supplement on Aging (SOA II), conducted as a supplement to the 1994 National Health Institute Survey (NHIS), served as the baseline for the LSOA II.

The survey design and contents of the LSOA II are similar to the first LSOA with improvements and enhancements reflecting the methodological and conceptual developments that occurred during the intervening decade. When used in conjunction with data from the original LSOA, the data from the LSOA II enable researchers to determine whether the prevalence and incidence of functioning, pathology, and impairments in the elderly population have changed over 10 years and whether the change is due to differences in cohort characteristics or to technological and medical advancements. This provides researchers and policy planners with an opportunity to examine trends in "healthy aging," the determinants of these trends, the differences in these trends in two cohorts of older Americans, and their social and economic consequences. The LSOA II fills a gap within the existing family of longitudinal studies of aging by providing a wealth of important and unique data on a cohort of the oldest-old who began the survey while functioning effectively within the community.

Sociometrics has archived the baseline, Wave 2, and Wave 3 data as part of its Data Archive of Social Research on Aging. The data set contains 9,447 cases and 1,288 variables.