The Whitehall II study is a prospective cohort study of British civil servants established in 1985 to study associations between risk factors, pathophysiological changes, and clinical disease (22). The target population was all London-based office staff, aged 35 to 55, working in 20 civil service departments on recruitment to the study in 1985 to 1988 (phase 1). With a response of 73%, the cohort consisted of 10,308 employees (6895 men and 3413 women). Since the phase 1 medical examination, follow-up examinations have taken place approximately every 5 years: phase 3 (1991 to 1993, n = 8815); phase 5 (1997 to 1999, n = 7870); phase 7 (2003 to 2004, n = 6967); and phase 9 (2008 to 2009, n = 6761). Phase 3 was the first time that all components of the Framingham risk algorithms were measured, making it the baseline for the analyses we report here. We use data from three screening cycles: from phase 3 to phase 5, from phase 5 to phase 7, and from phase 7 to phase 9 with phases 3, 5, and 7 providing baseline measures of vascular risk to assess incidence of depressive symptoms at phases 5, 7, and 9 in the three data cycles, respectively.
Whitehall II study
established
1985
target population
aged
35 to 55
civil service departments
20
target population
recruitment
1985 to 1988
cohort
response
73%
cohort
10,308 employees
employees
cohort
6895 men
men
cohort
3413 women
women
follow-up examinations
taken place
approximately every 5 years
years
phase 3
1991 to 1993
phase 3
n
8815
phase 5
1997 to 1999
phase 5
n
7870
phase 7
2003 to 2004
phase 7
n
6967
phase 9
2008 to 2009
phase 9
n
6761
screening cycles
three
data cycles
three