ICPSR Metadata record for Social Environment and Biomarkers of Aging Study (SEBAS) in Taiwan, 2000 and 2006 ICPSR ICPSR metadata records are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/us/). Social Environment and Biomarkers of Aging Study (SEBAS) in Taiwan, 2000 and 2006 Goldman, Noreen Weinstein, Maxine Chang, Ming-Cheng Lin, Hui-Sheng Chuang, Yi-Li Lin, Shio-Jean Wu, Shiow-Ing Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research ICPSR 2012-01-06 3792 doi://10.3886/ICPSR03792.v5

The Social Environment and Biomarkers of Aging Study (SEBAS) in Taiwan, 2000 and 2006, provides information regarding the health and well-being of older persons in Taiwan. Taiwan has undergone rapid demographic, social, and economic changes, becoming a highly urbanized and industrial society with a growing population of persons age 65 or older. SEBAS explores the relationship between life challenges and mental and physical health, the impact of social environment on the health and well-being of the elderly, and biological markers of health and stress. The study collected self-reports of physical, psychological, and social well-being, plus extensive clinical data based on medical examinations and laboratory analyses. Examination of health outcomes included chronic illnesses, functional status, psychological well-being, and cognitive function. Questions regarding life challenges focused on perceived stress, economic difficulties, security and safety, and the consequences of a major earthquake. Biological markers were used to identify cardiovascular risk factors, metabolic process measures, immune-system activity, the hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal axis, and sympathetic nervous system activity. Two rounds of biomarker data collected in 2000 and 2006 are complemented by face-to-face interviews with the participants.

The purpose of this study is to examine the antecedents, correlates, and consequences of change in biological measures and health. Specifically, the principal investigators aimed to examine three questions:

What individual and environmental factors contribute to our understanding of downstream health and survival?

The principal investigators focused on links between health and stressful experience, SES, psychosocial vulnerability and emotional well-being.

What factors predict change in bioindicators?

The principal investigators examined demographic and psychosocial factors along with environmental exposures to determine how prior experience is associated with change in biomarkers. They focused on the effects of socioeconomic status (SES), emotional well-being, and chronic and acute stressors. They examined change across the full array of biomarkers.

Do changes in bioindicators predict health outcomes and survival?

The principal investigators used a life course framework to explore how change in bioindicators and trajectories of prior experience and exposures are associated with subsequent health, physical and cognitive function, and survival. Of particular interest are several high-profile bioindicators (telomere length, 5-HTTLPR genotype, and inflammatory markers), new data on factors that may modify these associations (trauma, caregiving, sleep quality, chronic pain, and optimism), and gene-environment interactions.
UniverseScheme03792 Organization03792_1 R01 AG16790 Organization03792_2 R01 AG16661 Organization03792_3 DD01-861x-GR601S Organization03792_4 NACDA.IV AHRQMCC.I NACDA.V ICPSR.XVII.D DSDR.VI NACDA.II DSDR.III DSDR.IX aging biomarkers cognitive functioning diet disease health behavior health status illness leisure life events life satisfaction medical evaluation medical history medications mental health older adults physical condition physical limitations psychological wellbeing social environment stress urinalysis Global, Taiwan 2000 2000 2006 2006 individual clinical data medical records survey data All individuals in Taiwan aged 54 and older in 2000. A younger refresher cohort was added in 2006 of those aged 53-60.
For detailed information regarding the design of this study, please consult the User Guide.
 The Social Environment and Biomarkers of Aging Study (SEBAS) in Taiwan, 2000 and 2006 is an extension of the Taiwan Longitudinal Study of Aging (TLSA) in Taiwan. The sample was drawn as a nationally representative, multi-stage probability sample. For further and more detailed information regarding the sampling for this study, please consult the User Guide. 2000-06 2000-12 2006-08 2007-01

ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:

  • Created variable labels and/or value labels.
  • Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.
The SEBAS 2000 and SEBAS 2006 Longitudinal Public Use data each have their own set of weights. SEBAS 2000 has a cross-sectional weight only. SEBAS 2006 has two cross-sectional weights and two longitudinal weights. For further information regarding the weights for this study, please consult the User Guide. For further information regarding the response rates for this study, please consult the response rate tables within the User Guide. ICPSR
Users are advised that the data in this collection are restricted and available only by special arrangement with the staff of the National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging (NACDA) at ICPSR. These requirements are part of the arrangements governing the release of data assembled under this project which stipulate that the data must be used solely for social and behavioral science research. The data and other materials are to be used only for statistical analysis and reporting of aggregated information, and not for the investigation of specific individuals or organizations. Users interested in obtaining and using these data must request and complete a Restricted Data Use Agreement form indicating that: (1) she/he understands the need to protect the data, and (2) she/he will use the data for research purposes only. A copy of this form can be obtained by contacting ICPSR User Support (734-647-2200). Users can also download this form from the download page associated with this dataset. Completed forms with original signature(s) should be mailed to: Director, National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging, Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research, Institute for Social Research, P.O. Box 1248, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1248.
AVAILABLE. This study is freely available to the general public.
The original collector of the data, ICPSR, and the relevant funding agency bear no responsibility for use of the data or for interpretations or inferences based upon such uses.
Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Rearch ICPSR
Ann Arbor MI
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/ netmail@icpsr.umich.edu United States Department of Health and Human Services. National Institutes of Health. National Institute on Aging Taiwan Department of Health. Bureau of Health Promotion National Health Research Institutes (Taiwan) Taiwan Provincial Government 2012-01-06 ICPSR 2012-01-06 2012-01-06 All data and documentation for the study have been updated. The data collection from 2000 has been revised, and an additional data collection from 2006 has been added to this study. 2007-03-06 ICPSR 2007-03-06 Documentation has been updated. 2007-01-30 ICPSR 2007-01-30 The setup files and documentation have been updated. 2006-11-21 ICPSR 2006-11-21 Stata files have been added. StudyUnit03792
The data include multiple missing data designations. For character (string) variables, a blank response indicates missing data. Data users should consult the User Guide regarding the coding of missing data before performing analysis.
StudyUnit03792
All study documentation has been made publicly available for this study.