Norwegian cohorts

The Tromsø study

The Tromsø Study is a population-based health survey for Tromsø municipality inhabitants aged between 20-97. Specific age groups of the population were requested to participate in one or more of seven surveys conducted between 1974 and 2016. The first survey included 6595 men. The remaining six surveys included both men and women with 8130 to 27,158 participants. More than 45,000 participants have taken part in one or more of the seven surveys. During the surveys information from questionnaires was collected on socioeconomic conditions in childhood and adulthood, physical and mental health and diseases, symptoms, use of medication and health services, information on physical activity, smoking, alcohol consumption, and diet, together with blood and urine samples and measurements of anthropometry, blood pressure, heart rate, bone mass, dental health and lung function, electrocardiogram and ultrasound examination of the heart. The Tromsø Study is a health register with annual links to national (Cause of Death and Cancer) and local (infarction, atrial fibrillation, stroke, blood clots, bone fractures and diabetes) disease registries.
To date, about 170 doctoral theses have been submitted, 60 master’s theses and over 1,000 articles based on data from the Tromsø Study have been published.

The HUNT study

The Trøndelag Health Study (the HUNT Study), initiated in 1984, is a population-based cohort study of the adult population in Trøndelag County, Norway. The study is designed to cover a broad range of health-related topics through repeated surveys with questionnaires, interviews, clinical examinations, laboratory measurements and collection of biological samples. Data and biological samples have been collected in four different surveys: 1984-1986, 1995-1997, 2006-2008 and 2017-2019. All Nord-Trøndelag residents aged 20 or older were invited to participate in the surveys. Since 1995-97, all adolescents in Nord-Trøndelag (aged 13-19) have been invited to participate in the Young-HUNT Study. In the 2017-2019 survey, the study expanded to cover both regions of Trøndelag County, Nord- and Sør-Trøndelag. The HUNT study includes comprehensive data for about 250 000 participants. The ability to link HUNT data with other Norwegian registries, such as those on causes of death, cancer incidence, or prescription drug use, opens up a wide range of opportunities for population health research with a variety of topics.

Summary data table

To come…