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Consuming 6 or more bottles/classes of alcohol – the number of times the respondent consumed six or more bottles or glasses of alcohol per day during the last 3 months. The units of alcohol were not specified in the SHARE survey.
Providing help outside the social network – has the individual provided help in personal care or practical domestic work to anyone outside their household in the past 12 months, for example to a family member, friend, neighbour or other person.
Receiving help outside the social network – has any family member outside the household, friend, neighbor or other person provided the individual or his/her spouse/partner any help in personal care or practical domestic work in the past 12 months.
Depression diagnosed by a physician – has a family physician or a psychiatrist ever treated the respondent for depression or has the respondent ever been treated for depression in a psychiatric hospital or department.
Frequency of using medical care – the frequency of using family physician care in the last 12 months (including calls to the family physician), number of times being hospitalised in an active treatment hospital in the past two years (hospitalisation for at least one night, including hospitalisation in a psychiatric hospital).
Number – the SHARE survey presents weighted data and the number shows the estimated occurrence of the respondent in the population.
Depression (EURO-D depression scale) – the EURO-D depression scale is a depression scale with 12 questions regarding depression, pessimism, suicidality (wish to die), guilt, sleeping problems, loss of interest, irritability, appetite, fatigue, concentration, feelings of joy and crying. The respondent is asked to answer regarding the month preceding the interview. The EURO-D score varies from 0-12 and the cut-off point is 3 (scores above are considered in compliance with the EURO-D depression criteria).
Quality of life score – the overall sum of the respondent’s answers on various questions reflecting the quality of life (survey questions AC014-AC017; AC020-AC025). The score varies from 10 to 40, 10 being the lowest and 40 the highest.
Number of surviving children – the number of children alive at the time of carrying out the survey.
Self-assessment of depression – the respondent’s self-assessment on whether he/she has suffered from at least a 2-week depression episode in the course of his/her life.
Functional limitations – does the respondent have eyesight problems even when wearing glasses (or contact lenses); hearing problems, even when using a hearing aid; problems walking or taking the stairs; problems remembering things or focusing; problems taking care of oneself e.g. getting dressed or washing; problems communicating in one's own language e.g. trouble understanding others or making oneself understood to others (speech disorder, not language capacity).
Work requiring physical effort – does the respondent agree with the following claim: “My work requires physical effort”. Only employed respondents’ answers are taken into account.
Disease frequency – what kind of diseases or health issues do the respondents suffer from.
Education – the respondent’s education level according to the International Standard Classification of Education, level 1–3:
Number of medications used – does the respondent take any medicine at least once a week due to some health issue.
Body Mass Index (BMI) – body weight (kg) divided by the square of height (m). The BMI evaluation is based on a scale with the following values:
Average age at the time of the occurrence of initial depression – the age of the respondent at the time of his/her initial period of depression of at least two weeks.
Number of chronic diseases – the number of long-term diseases or health issues the respondent is suffering from.
Occurrence of chronic diseases by disease group – the disease groups contain the following diagnoses:
Hand pressure – the hand-grip strength of both right and left hand were measured with a dynamo-meter, instructing the respondent to squeeze the handle as hard as possible for a couple of seconds. The hand-grip strength of the right hand was reported. Measurements where the difference of the hand-grip strength between two measurements of the same hand was over 20 kg were disregarded.
Household type – whether one or several member household.
Number of household members – whether the individual is a member of a household with 1, 2, or 3 or more members.
Household housing type – what kind of housing does the respondent live in. The following options are given:
Self-assessment on the material coping of the household – an evaluation on how well the household is coping based on the income of each member in one month.
Economic activity – the respondent’s reported economic activity at the time of responding. An employed pensioner shall be accounted for as an employed if the latter defines his/herself mainly as employed. Individuals receiving survivor’s pension or pension for incapacity for work, who do not receive a pension for the employed time shall not be regarded as pensioners. If the individual receiving pension for incapacity for work regards him/herself as mainly in employment, the latter shall be regarded as employed. Temporary work leave due to pregnancy and maternity leave, illness, injury etc. shall be regarded as employment.
Region – residence of the household according to NUTS3 classification. See classifications
An existing long-term illness or health issue – has the respondent bee suffering from any chronic or long-term health issue, disease, disability or impairment for a longer period of time. Mental health problems are also accounted for.
An existing disability – does the respondent have any current officially declared level of disability; if yes, then what degree – moderate, severe or profound disability.
Indigeneity – indigenous Estonians are considered individuals permanently residing in Estonia, at least one parent of whose was born in Estonia, and Estonians. In cases where data on the birthplaces of parents and on the nationality of the respondent were unknown, the individuals born in Estonia were regarded as indigenous Estonians.
Satisfaction with life – The respondent’s evaluation on his/her satisfaction with life on a scale of 10, 0 being unsatisfied with life and 10 being completely satisfied.
Nationality – the nationality reported by the respondent.
Difficulties with self-care and domestic work – does the respondent have any difficulties carrying out at least one of the activities due to health or memory problems.Self-care shall be regarded the following activities: getting dressed, putting on socks and shoes; walking across the room; taking a bath or shower; eating, cutting food; getting to and out of bed; using the toilet, sitting down on and rising from the toilet.Domestic work shall be regarded the following activities: using a map to get around in unknown places; making hot dishes; buying groceries; making phone calls; taking medicine; inside or outside gardening; managing financials; paying invoices and keeping track of expenses. Activities cause difficulties probably for less than three months shall be disregarded.
Repression – has the respondent been repressed by authorities. Repression shall be regarded as the individual not being able to receive an education, work in his/her profession, was evacuated by force, was deported, was exiled or was imprisoned for a longer period.
Social network – individuals named by the respondent with whom the respondent has discussed personal important issues in the last 12 months. The social network may consist of family members, friends, neighbours as well as other people.
Providing help to members of the social network – has the individual provided help in personal care or practical domestic work to any of the members of his/her social network in the last 12 months.
Receiving help from members of the social network – has any of the members of the respondent’s social network provided any help to the respondent or his/her spouse/partner in personal care or practical domestic work in the last 12 months.
Health self-assessment – does the respondent evaluate his/her state of health as excellent, very good, good, satisfactory or bad.
Health-related limitations – to what extent has a health issue limited the respondent in usual activities in the last 6 months.
A health limitation impeding the respondent to do paid labour – does the respondent have health issues or disabilities that impede carrying out paid labour (upon request).
Probability of being alive in 10 years – the respondents evaluation in percentage (1–100) on the probability of him/her being alive in 10 years.
Termination of work due to poor health – respondents who stated that the reason behind termination of work or retirement was their poor health, and those whose work has cause an illness or health limitation.
Age – the age at the time of carrying out the research.
Vitality index – aggregate based on the answers of the three following questions:
The Survey on Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) is the pan-European longitudinal survey research including the elderly (50+) population, focusing on the individual ageing process and studying the causal links affecting it; the other important source is the monitoring of existing policy measures as well as launching new science-based measures.
Internationally, the SHARE program is coordinated by The Max Planck Society Munich Centre for the Economics of Aging (MEA) The SHARE research panel waves have been carried out since 2004 with a 2-year step. The SHARE methodology has been projected comparable to the similar US research HRS (Health and retirement Survey, waves since 1992) and to the ELSA research (English Longitudinal Survey on Ageing) in England in 2002; Israel is also taking part in the program.
Since wave 4 of 2010, Estonia has been connected with the SHARE research, in which the science coordination is carried out by the Estonian Institute for Population Studies.
The data shall not be reported if there are 20 or less people, corresponding to the limit of the standard error.
NUTS – the NUTS classification (Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics) is a hierarchical system for dividing up the economic territory of the EU for the purpose of:
- NUTS 1: major socio-economic regions
- NUTS 2: basic regions for the application of regional policies
- NUTS 3: small regions for specific diagnoses
Tiina Tambaum
Estonian Institute for Population Studies
E-mail: tiina.tambaum[at]tlu.ee