Whitehall II

Aims
The Whitehall II study was established to investigate the causes of social inequalities in health with a cohort of 10,308 participants was recruited from the British Civil Service in 1985. The study has shown the importance of psychosocial factors such as work stress and work-family conflict in heart disease and diabetes in addition to the contribution of unhealthy behaviours and traditional risk factors such as high blood pressure. The study is now a study on ageing, with the 35-year follow-up allowing research on multimorbidity, functional decline, frailty, disability, and dementia.

Institution
UCL Brain Science, University College London

Geographic coverage - Nations
England

Geographic coverage - Regions
London

Start date
1985

Catalogue record last updated
28/03/2024

Sample type
Occupational cohort; Ageing cohort

Sample details
The target population for the Whitehall II study was all civil servants aged 35–55 years working in the London offices of 20 Whitehall departments in 1985–88. Members of the target population were invited to participate by letter. The achieved sample size was 10,308 people; 3413 women and 6895 men. The participants, who were from clerical and office support grades, middle-ranking executive grades, and senior administrative grades, differ widely in salary. Some have remained in the civil service. Many have retired, and others have taken employment elsewhere; some are unemployed. For more details see Marmot & Brunner 2005.

Sample size at recruitment
10,308

Sample size at most recent sweep
4,307 (2022 - Phase 13)

Sex
All

Age at recruitment
35-55 years

Cohort year of birth
1930-53