Table 1 Descriptive analysis of the sample across 5 waves of TLSA, 1999–2015
|  | 1999 (n = 1624) | 2003 (n = 2847) | 2007 (n = 2480) | 2011 (n = 2418) | 2015 (n = 2673) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cognitive function (0–19) | 12.43 (2.93) | 12.20 (2.83) | 12.30 (2.28) | 12.02 (2.45) | 11.00 (3.29) |
Sex: Male | 47.8% | 48.8% | 49.6% | 49.9% | 48.9% |
Female | 52.2% | 51.2% | 50.4% | 50.1% | 51.1% |
Marital status: Having spouse | 78.4% | 78.7% | 80.4% | 277% | 90.3% |
No spouse | 21.6% | 21.3% | 19.6% | 72.3% | 9.7% |
Children: yes | 100.0% | 96.7% | 96.9% | 96.7% | 100.0% |
no | 0.0% | 3.3% | 3.1% | 3.3% | 0.0% |
Living arrangement: With others | 93.3% | 4.6% | 7.7% | 7.8% | 90.4% |
Alone | 6.7% | 95.4% | 92.3% | 92.2% | 9.6% |
Smoking: no | 68.3% | 66.5% | 65.7% | 67.3% | 68.8% |
Smoking: quitted | 10.6% | 12.3% | 15.7% | 18.9% | 19.4% |
Smoking: current | 21.1% | 21.2% | 18.6% | 13.8% | 11.9% |
Exercise: Irregular | 54.0% | 51.4% | 52.9% | 46.9% | 54.5% |
Regular | 46.0% | 48.6% | 47.1% | 53.1% | 45.5% |
Work: yes | 44.3% | 48.6% | 40.8% | 36.0% | 22.5% |
No | 55.7% | 51.4% | 59.2% | 64.0% | 77.5% |
Social group participation: Yes | 52.0% | 45.0% | 49.0% | 49.1% | 44.2% |
No | 48.0% | 55.0% | 51.0% | 50.9% | 55.8% |
Ethnicity: Fuchien | 68.4% | 70.5% | 70.5% | 71.1% | 71.3% |
Ethnicity: Hakka | 17.7% | 18.4% | 18.5% | 18.3% | 18.4% |
Ethnicity: Mainland | 12.5% | 09.4% | 9.6% | 9.2% | 8.6% |
Ethnicity: others | 1.4% | 1.7% | 1.4% | 1.4% | 1.6% |
Age 50–54 | 9.2% | 32.2% | 7.9% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
Age 55–59 | 28.0% | 17.7% | 31.0% | 16.2% | 0.0% |
Age 60–64 | 22.8% | 16.3% | 16.6% | 28.7% | 22.0% |
Age 65–69 | 14.3% | 12.4% | 16.2% | 17.0% | 25.0.% |
Age 70–74 | 18.6% | 9.3% | 11.2% | 14.2% | 16.9% |
Age 75–59 | 6.2% | 9.2% | 9.4% | 10.0% | 14.6% |
Age 80–84 | 0.7% | 2.6% | 6.2% | 9.2% | 9.7% |
Age 85 +  | 0.2% | 0.4% | 1.7% | 4.5% | 11.8% |
Education: illiterate | 26.5% | 16.6% | 13.5% | 13.1% | 15.1% |
Education: elementary school | 48.4% | 48.5% | 48.5% | 48.4% | 48.3% |
Education: junior high school | 9.8% | 12.0% | 12.9% | 13.1% | 12.3% |
Education: Senior high school | 8.4% | 12.2% | 13.5% | 13.5% | 13.0% |
Education: college/univ. +  | 6.8% | 10.6% | 11.5% | 11.9% | 11.3% |
Drinking frequency (ordinal) | 0.77 (1.49) | 0.28 (0.90) | 0.25 (0.87) | 0.24 (0.82) | 0.27 (0.63) |
Disease number | 0.99 (1.18) | 1.04 (1.19) | 1.17 (1.26) | 1.32 (1.26) | 1.42 (1.31) |
Self-rated health | 3.43 (1.02) | 3.43 (1.05) | 3.32 (0.94) | 3.27 (0.95) | 3.21 (0.96) |
ADL disability number | 0.03 (0.31) | 0.04 (0.37) | 0.06 (0.48) | 0.14 (0.75) | 0.28 (1.06) |
IADL disability number | 0.31 (0.81) | 0.32 (0.84) | 0.40 (0.96) | 0.36 (1.40) | 0.74 (2.04) |
Advanced function difficulties | 2.08 (3.81) | 2.26 (2.38) | 2.38 (4.35) | 3.14 (5.13) | 4.35 (6.26) |
Contact outside households | 2.86 (1.08) | 2.15 (1.09) | 1.94 (0.96) | 2.16 (0.97) | 2.26 (1.06) |
Depressive symptoms | 4.19 (4.98) | 4.05 (4.95) | 3.96 (5.10) | 4.04 (5.27) | 4.62 (5.44) |
Stress | 1.71 (1.99) | 1.84 (1.99) | 4.35 (1.42) | 2.10 (2.25) | 1.93 (2.11) |
Providing instrumental help | 0.51 (0.89) | 0.62 (1.03) | 0.49 (0.88) | 0.67 (1.31) | 0.49 (1.16) |
Receiving emotional support | 12.44 (2.25) | 12.42 (2.17) | 12.51 (2.01) | 12.42 (2.02) | 12.40 (2.10) |
Receiving instrumental support | 5.16 (1.00) | 5.16 (1.00) | 5.12 (0.97) | 5.20 (0.94) | 5.19 (0.90) |
Economic satisfaction | 3.17 (0.91) | 3.09 (0.99) | 3.16 (0.93) | 3.25 (0.93) | 3.39 (0.83) |
Religiousness | 8.32 (3.94) | 8.39 (3.82) | 8.16 (3.99) | 8.27 (3.86) | 7.92 (3.73) |