TamELSA focuses on health and functioning, living conditions and way of life, social contacts, use of and need for services, and experiences of life among individuals aged 60 to 89 years. It was started by Professor Eino Heikkinen and his group in 1979 as part of the Eleven Country Study, initiated by the WHO European Office. In 1979, more than one thousand people in Tampere were interviewed face-to-face. At the second round, 1989, a new cohort aged 60 to 69 years was also included. Follow-up interviews were conducted in 1999 and 2007. Mortality has been followed in national registers TamELSA data was used also in the EU-funded project “Cross-national determinants of quality of life and health services for the elderly” (CLESA).

Research group
Principal Investigator
Professor Marja Jylhä marja.jylha at uta.fi School of Health Sciences, University of Tampere

Selected publications

Pluijm SMF, Bardage C, Nikula S, Blumstein T, Jylhä M, Minicuci N,, Zunzunegui MV, Pedersen NL, Deeg DJH, for the CLESA Study Working Group: A harmonized measure of activities of daily living was a reliable and valid instrument for comparing disability  across countries. J Clin Epidemiol 58:1015-1023, 2005

Vuorisalmi M, Pietila I, Pohjolainen P, Jylhä M. Comparison of self-rated health in older people of St. Petersburg, Russia, and Tampere, Finland: how sensitive is SRH to cross-cultural factors? Eur J Ageing 5(4): 328 – 334, 2008.

Aartsen M, Jylhä M. Onset of loneliness in older adults: Results of a 28 year prospective study. Eur J Ageing   8: 31-38, 2011, epub ahead of printing doi 10.1007/s 10433-011-0175-7