Understanding Society User Support

Hello,

You're correct that CANCERTYPN_3 (breast cancer) is available from Wave 10 onwards, but cancer data was collected before Wave 10 as well, just in a less detailed form.

Before Wave 10, new entrants reported whether a doctor had ever told them they had ‘cancer or malignancy’ (HCOND13), while continuing sample members only reported cancers newly diagnosed since the last interview (HCONDN13). However, no information on cancer type (e.g. breast cancer) was collected until Wave 10 introduced the follow-up variable CANCERTYPN to specify this.

As for your second question: the spike in breast cancer reports in Wave 10 is expected. Wave 10 marked a redesign in the health section: all continuing participants were asked whether they had ever been diagnosed with cancer, regardless of whether they had mentioned it in earlier waves. This led to a one-time catch-up effect where many prevalent (not just newly diagnosed) cases were captured. In contrast, Waves 11–14 only record new diagnoses since the previous wave, which explains the much lower numbers. You can check this by comparing the universe in different waves: (in the PDFs available here Main Survey Questionnaires - Understanding Society):

Wave 10:

If (Ff_Ivlolw = 1 | Ff_Everint = 1) // interviewed at prior wave or has been interviewed previously And If (HCondEVER = 13) // Ever diagnosed with cancer or malignancy

Wave 11-14:

If (ff_ivlolw = 1 | Ff_everint = 1) // interviewed at prior wave or has been interviewed previously And If (HCondNEW = 13) // Diagnosed with cancer or malignancy since last interview

I’d also recommend checking the attached FAQ about health questions in UKHLS. The document explains in detail how these questions have been asked over the course of the study.

Best wishes,
Piotr Marzec
UKHLS User Support