Sweden launches massive 40-year health database tracking 140,000 people
Researchers have created one of Europe's largest population health cohorts, following over 140,000 Swedish residents since the 1980s with detailed biological and lifestyle data. The resource could accelerate drug development, inform public health policy, and help companies understand real-world disease patterns across decades.
Originaltitel: Cohort profile: the Northern Sweden health and disease study (NSHDS)
<p><strong>Key features: </strong></p><ul><li>The Northern Sweden Health and Disease Study (NSHDS) was initiated in the mid-1980s. The NSHDS is a population-based prospective longitudinal cohort comprising >140 000 participants in the two northernmost regions in Sweden, Norrbotten and Västerbotten, with >240 000 blood samples and 1.5 million person-years of follow-up.</li><li>The NSHDS includes three sub-cohorts: the Västerbotten Intervention Programme (VIP), the expanded Northern Sweden Monitoring of Trends and Determinants of Cardiovascular Disease (MONICA) Study, and the Mammography Screening Project (MSP). The VIP is both a community-based cardiometabolic intervention programme encouraging healthy lifestyle (targeting individuals 40, 50, and 60 years of age), and a corresponding research cohort. The MONICA is an observational study focusing on cardiovascular disease and its associated risk factors, recruiting individuals aged 25–74 years. The MSP recruited women attending mammography during 1995–2006. The NSHDS median participation age is 50 years (53% women).</li><li>Most participants contribute data on health, lifestyle, anthropometric measures, blood pressure, blood lipids, and glucose tolerance, along with research blood samples that are fractionated, frozen within an hour of collection, and stored at –80°C. Linkage to registries, clinical cohorts, and biological tissue archives facilitates studies of well-characterized participants (often combined with intervention studies).</li><li>Collaborations are encouraged. Additional information can be found at: info.brs@umu.se; https://www.umu.se/en/biobank</li></ul>