Population Studies

(country then alphabetical order)

Countries:

  • Australia
  • Austria
  • Canada
  • China
  • Denmark
  • Estonia
  • Finland
  • Germany
  • Holland
  • Iceland
  • International
  • Italy
  • Latvia
  • Norway
  • Sweden
  • United Kingdom
  • United States of America

Australia

  • The Busselton Health Study: “is one of the longest running epidemiological research programs in the world. The residents of the town of Busselton in the south-west of Western Australia have been involved in a series of health surveys since 1966. Busselton Health Study activities include:a series of cross-sectional, whole-population health surveys in the town; continuing followup of cross-sectional survey participants; collection of sera and DNA samples; compilation of information on family relationships between survey participants.” – http://bsn.uwa.edu.au/
  • Joondalup Family Health Study: “The proposed Joondalup Family Health Study would build on the experience of the Busselton Health Study, which has provided 30 years of population-based health data and has led to improved health outcomes in a number of chronic diseases such as asthma and cardiovascular disease. The planned study will also have a strong focus on families and the health of both children and adults.” – http://www.jfhs.org.au/about.html
  • The National Health and Medical Research Australian Twin Registry (NHMRC ATR): “based at the Genetic Epidemiology Laboratory of the Queensland Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, was founded in 1979 .In addition to current studies on a diverse range of topics including alcoholism, asthma, women’s health, moliness and osteoarthritis, there is a large body of historical data collected from the twins over the past 15 years. Over 15,000 pairs of twins have participated in various studies, and almost 40,000 relatives of those twins.” – http://genepi.qimr.edu.au/
  • WAIMR Laboratory for Genetic Epidemiology   “Western Australian Genetic Epidemiology Resource (WAGER); Western Australian DNA Bank; Western Australian Cardiovascular Disease Consortium (WACVDC); Western Australian Sleep Health Study; Western Australian Genome Health Project; Joondalup Family Health Study; Western Australian Twin Register” – http://www.genepi.com.au/main_projects

Austria

  • Atherosclerosis Risk Factors Intervention Study Strass (ARIS): “We started the ARIS (in Strass, Lower Austria) in 1987/88. 568 participants (56.7% female, 43.3% male) were asked some questions concerning their cardiovascular status; blood pressure and 22 laboratory parameters were measured (including the serum lipid profile)” – http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=2368408&dopt=Abstract

Canada

  • CART@GENE: “The CART@GENE project encompasses 50,000 adults in Quebec, Canada between 25-74 years of age representing ≈1.2% in that age group. (Phase A = 20,000 over 3 years) and studies maintenance of health and susceptibility to common diseases such as cancer, diabetes, hypertension, arthritis, and others.” – http://www.cartagene.qc.ca/

China

  • Chinese National Twin Registry: “Chinese National Twin Registry as a Resource for Genetic Epidemiologic Studies of Common and Complex Diseases in China. To date (2002), we have over 4500 twin pairs registered and about 700 twin pairs studied for various metabolic traits (e.g., lipids, glucose, insulin, etc.). The long-term plan of this program is to (1) establish a population-based twin registry from several selected regions in China for future studies of specific common complex diseases; (2) conduct detailed phenotyping for clinical and intermediate traits related to cardiovascular diseases; (3) expand studies of twins to twin families by including their parents, siblings, and offspring for genetic linkage and association studies; and (4) follow up twins in the registry longitudinally.” – http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/aap/twr/2002/00000005/00000005/art00006

Denmark

  • Danish Twin Registry: “The Danish Twin Registry (DTR) is one of the oldest twin registries in the world. It was established in the 1950’es with the aim of studying causes of cancer, and through the years it has gradually been expanded so that it now comprises twins born through more than 130 years.” – http://www.dtr.sdu.dk/?sideid=index&sprog=eng
  • Inter99: “5,868 middle-aged white Danish subjects from the Inter99 cohort, established at the Research Centre for Prevention and Health (4,441 subjects with normal glucose tolerance [NGT], 495 subjects with impaired fasting glycemia [IFG], 684 subjects with IGT, and 248 patients with screen-detected and untreated type 2 diabetes), fasting and post–oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) glycemia and other quantitative traits. All participants from the Inter99 cohort (including patients with treated type 2 diabetes; in total 5,965 middle-aged white Danish subjects) were evaluated in a case-control study examining the association between genotype and the metabolic syndrome according to 1999 WHO standards.” – http://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/cgi/content/full/54/10/3026

Estonia

  • Estonian Genome Project: “In 2005 the gene bank containes already the data over 10,000 gene donors. With the increase of the number of gene donors to 100,000 within next four years it will be suitable for many nested case-control studies. The database will make it possible to carry out research both in Estonia and outside to find links between genes, environmental factors and common diseases (cancer, diabetes, depression, cardio-vascular diseases, etc)” – http://www.geenivaramu.ee/index.php?lang=eng&sub=58

Finland

  • Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention (ATBC) Study: “The Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention (ATBC) Study was a cancer prevention trial conducted by NCI and the National Public Health Institute of Finland from 1985 to 1993. The study was to determine whether certain vitamin supplements would prevent lung cancer and other cancers in a group of 29,133 male smokers 50-69 years old in Finland. The 50- to 69-year-old participants took a pill daily for five to eight years that contained one of the following: 50 milligrams (mg) alpha-tocopherol (a form of vitamin E), 20 mg of beta-carotene (a precursor of vitamin A), both, or a placebo (inactive pill that looked like the vitamin). Questionnaire data and blood samples were collected at baseline and during follow-up. Incident cancer cases are identified annually through national registers.” – http://epi.grants.cancer.gov/BPC3/cohorts.html#plco
  • Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study: “DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Population-based, prospective cohort study conducted at 5 centers in Finland among 2229 white adults aged 24 to 39 years who were examined in childhood and adolescence at ages 3 to 18 years in 1980 and reexamined 21 years later, between September 2001 and January 2002. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Association between cardiovascular risk variables (levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol [LDL-C], high-density lipoprotein cholesterol [HDL-C], and triglycerides; LDL-C/HDL-C ratio; systolic and diastolic blood pressure; body mass index; smoking) measured in childhood and adulthood and common carotid artery IMT measured in adulthood.” – http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=14600186

Germany

  • KORA-gen: “KORA research platform (Cooperative health research in the Region of Augsburg, Southern Germany) has evolved from the WHO MONICA study (Monitoring of Trends and Determinants of Cardiovascular Disease). In total, four population based health surveys have been conducted between 1984 and 2000 with 18000 participants in the age range of 25 to 74 years, and a biological specimen bank was established. Continuing regular follow-up investigations have collected information on sociodemography, general medical history, environmental factors, smoking, nutrition, alcohol consumption, and various laboratory parameters.” – http://www0.gsf.de/kora-gen/index_e.html

Holland

  • Dutch Twin Registry: “Het Nederlands Tweelingen Register (kortweg NTR) werd op 1 februari 1987 aan de Vrije Universiteit te Amsterdam opgericht ten behoeve van wetenschappelijk onderzoek. Onderzoek bij tweelingen en hun familieleden kan namelijk inzicht verschaffen in de mate waarin verschillen tussen mensen bepaald worden door erfelijke of omgevingsinvloeden. Door de continue hulp van de tweelingen en hun families die bij het NTR staan ingeschreven onderzoekt het NTR de invloed van genen en omgeving op onder andere de ontwikkeling van de hersenen, intelligentie, probleemgedrag van kinderen, gezondheid en leefgewoonten, angst en depressie, persoonlijkheid en veroudering.” – http://www.tweelingenregister.org/

Iceland

  • AGES – Age, Gene/Environment Susceptibility Study “The Age, Gene/Environment Susceptibility (AGES Reykjavik) Study was initiated to examine genetic susceptibility and gene/environment interaction as these contribute to phenotypes common in old age, a collaborative study between the National Institute on Aging, NIH and the Icelandic Heart Association. The AGES will phenotype the surviving 12,000 members of the Reykjavik Study cohort (now 67 years and older) for quantitative traits related to diseases and conditions of old age, and collect genetic and other biologic specimens The IHA-established Reykjavik Study, a longitudinal study from 1967 to 1994 of over 20,000 participants collected mid-life data on cardiovascular traits such as blood pressure and cholesterol.” – http://www.hjarta.is/EN/FrontPage.aspx?GroupId=346

International

  • EURO-BLCS Study: “The euro-blcs study sets out to explore the evolution of cardiovascular morbidity, mortality and intermediate disease markers throughout the lifecourse in children, adolescents, young adults, middle-aged and elderly people as a means of identifying high risk groups and biological markers amenable to early intervention and prevention.” http://www1.imperial.ac.uk/medicine/about/divisions/ephpc/eph/projects/cdel/euroblcs/default.html
  • European Prospective Investigation of Cancer: “EPIC was designed to investigate the relationships between diet, nutritional status, lifestyle and environmental factors and the incidence of cancer and other chronic diseases. EPIC is the largest study of diet and health ever undertaken, having recruited over half a million (520,000) people in ten European countries: Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom (select a country from the map). Within these countries EPIC research scientists are based in 23 centre. is coordinated by Dr Elio Riboli, Chief of the Nutrition and Hormones Group at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC, which is part of the World Health Organization) in Lyon, France.” – http://www.iarc.fr/epic/index.html
  • Genetics of Healthy Ageing (GEHA): “(2004)The genetic analysis will be performed by 9 high throughput platforms, within the framework of a centralized database. The working plan of this IP is to: (i) collect an unprecedented number (2800) of long-lived (90+) sibpairs from 11 European countries (including Israel); (ii) perform a genome scan by microsatellites in all the sibpairs (a total of 5600 individuals) (iii) study in cases (i.e. the 2800 probands of the sibpairs) and controls (2800 young people) , the three genomic regions (chromosome 4, D4S1564, chromosome 11, 11.p15.5, and chromosome 19, around APOE) which were identified in previous studies as to be involved in aging and longevity.” – http://www.geha.unibo.it/page_display.asp?pid=13
  • GenomEUtwin: “The participating 8 twin cohorts form a collection of over 0.6 million pairs of twins. Tens of thousands of DNA samples with informed consents for genetic studies of common diseases have already been stored from these population-based twin cohorts. The population cohorts used in the Genomeutwin study consist of Danish, Finnish, Italian, Dutch and Swedish twins and the MORGAM population cohort.” – http://www.genomeutwin.org/index.htm
  • MORGAM: “The MORGAM Project is a multinational collaborative study to explore the relationships between the development of cardiovascular diseases and their classic and genetic risk factors. This is done through follow-up of cohorts examined in the MONICA risk factor surveys and other studies. As many of the participating centres have collected DNA in their surveys, gene-environment interactions can be assessed in a large case-cohort study. The MORGAM Project is part of GenomEUtwin, a Network of Excellence for Genomics in Europe.” – http://www.ktl.fi/morgam/
  • Twin Registers Worldwide – links to many countries: “There are many websites with information on twins, research involving twins, and multiple birth organisations. We have listed some sites below that you may find interesting. Please note that ISTS is not responsible for the content of the sites listed and provides these addresses for your information and interest only. Due to the large number of sites, it is impossible to closely monitor all of them. If you feel that something listed on any site is inappropriate or if you would like to have a site considered for addition, please notify us by emailing us at ists@qimr.edu.au.” – http://www.ists.qimr.edu.au/links.html#Twin%20reg

Italy

  • Italian Twin Registry: “The Italian Twin Registry is a population register comprising pairs of twins who accept to participate in medical and scientific research activities aimed at improving the health of the whole population. It was created in 2000 and today it is a well-established scientific reality involving more than 9000 twins. The information contained in the registry is accessible to institutional research groups which intend to assess the relative weight of genetic, environmental and behavioural factors in the etiopathogenesis of multi-factorial diseases with the purpose of estimating, through pilot studies based on the twin database, the genetic load on the Italian population of some autoimmune, dysmetabolic diseases related to ageing and behavioural changes.” “Responsabile: Antonia Stazi, epidemiologa. stazi@iss.it” – http://www.gemelli.iss.it/

Latvia

  • Latvian National Project: “launched on January 1, 2001. The main objective of the project is to collect sufficient amount of genetic information of the Latvian population and compare this data with the clinical information and the information available about specific pedigrees. The direct outcome of the project for each individual will be seen in the possibility to consider his/her risks to develop certain diseases due to their genetic features and to eliminate these risks, particularly by application of the individual therapy based on genetic characteristics of the patient” – http://bmc.biomed.lu.lv/gene/

Norway

  • Norwegian Biobank: “BIOBANKS FOR HEALTH (also known as BIOHEALTH NORWAY) is a large population based cohort established for genetic epidemiologic research. The collection of samples and information is still ongoing. When completed, the cohort will comprise biological samples and standardised health and exposure data from 450.000 Norwegian individuals of all ages, corresponding to approximately 1/10 of the Norwegian population.” – http://www.fhi.no/eway/default0.asp?pid=225&MainArea_4807=4828:0:15,2816:1:0:0:4807;4809;::0:0:0
  • The Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study: “The target population comprises of all pregnant women and the fathers in Norway during a 4-5 year period. The sample size is 100,000 women. If this number has not been reached by the year 2005, data collection may continue until the sample size is reached. Exposure variables include genes, psychosocial factors, infections, use of medication, nutrition, life styles, occupational exposure, use of health services, substance abuse and socioeconomic factors as well as chemical and physical factors in the environment. Health variables include maternal and paternal history and health outcomes for the mother and child detected during and after pregnancy. All blood samples are sent to the National Institute of Public Health in Oslo where a biobank is organized for the storing and processing of all samples. Extraction and processing of DNA for genetic studies are important issues.” – http://www.fhi.no/custom/getmessage.asp?objectid=51488&moduleid=360

Poland

  • Polish Centenarian Program: “Since the beginning of the project more than 350 centenarians have been visited and genetic material has been collected from many of them and from 79 people of 65 years old. The DNA, RNA, and immortalised lymphocytes bank consists of samples taken from both centenarians and healthy subjects as well as from Alzheimer disease patients (gDNA 369, cDNA 233, immortalized cell lines 247).” – http://www.iimcb.gov.pl/kuznicki_lab.php

Sweden

  • LifeGene: “Mar 01, 2005 Swedish LifeGene Project The Swedes have proposed what they are calling the “most comprehensive medical project” since the human genome. The project has a tentative name, LifeGene, and the goal is to combine “biological information with lifestyle data” from a population of 500,000 people in order to get a “greater understanding of the interplay between heredity, lifestyle and the environment in relation to the most common diseases.”“ – http://jrb.typepad.com/personalgenome/2005/03/swedish_lifegen.html
  • The Swedish Twin Registry “is the largest twin register in the world and includes more than 140,000 twins. The registry covers three different age cohorts, the older cohort, the middle cohort, and the younger cohort. The purpose of twin studies is to study the relative importance of genetic and environmental influences for behavioral characteristics and diseases. There are about 30 ongoing research projects using data from the Swedish Twin Registry.” – http://www.meb.ki.se/twinreg/index_en.html

United Kingdom

  • The 1970 British Cohort Study – held by the Centre for Longitudinal Studies, http://www.cls.ioe.ac.uk/text.asp?section=000100010002
  • ALSPAC – The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (also known as ‘Children of the 90s’). Follows ~10,000 subjects born 1991-92. Studies of growth, body composition, insulin sensitivity and insulin secretion during childhood. “This is aimed at identifying ways in which to optimise the health and development of children.” http://www.alspac.bris.ac.uk/welcome/index.shtml
  • British Women’s Heart and Health Study (BWHHS): “BWHHS is a prospective cohort study of heart disease in British women between the ages of 60 and 79. It is funded by the Department of Health, the British Heart Foundation and the Stroke Association. Field sampling phase was completed on schedule in March 2001. The study team are based at the University of Bristol, in the Department of Social Medicine.” – http://www.epi.bris.ac.uk/bwhhs/index.htm
  • Cambridge infant growth study. “Ongoing recruitment of ~1,000 infants recruited in pregnancy, with assessment of maternal oral glucose tolerance, insulin sensitivity and insulin sensitivity, and repeated assessments of offspring body composition infancy”. http://www.medschl.cam.ac.uk/paediatrics/
  • European Youth Heart Study. “2,000 children aged 9 or 15 yr from Denmark, Portugal, Estonia, and Norway, assessed for growth, physical activity, fasting insulin sensitivity, and other markers of adult disease”. http://www.prevnut.ki.se/eyhs.htm
  • The National Child Development Study (1958 cohort) – held by the Centre for Longitudinal Studies, http://www.cls.ioe.ac.uk/text.asp?section=000100010002
  • The National Research Register (NRR) UK: “is a database of ongoing and recently completed research projects funded by, or of interest to, the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS. About 350 organisations (NHS Trusts, national and regional funding programmes, universities, charities) in England, Scotland and Wales contribute data which is updated every three months. The Register provides a reasonable record of projects that were ongoing from early 2000 onwards…” – http://www.nrr.nhs.uk/
  • Second Northwick Park Heart Study – NPHSII: “This study was established in 1989, and is an ongoing survey of 3000 middle aged men who were in good health when first seen. It is a long-term investigation of heart attack, a condition caused by narrowing of the arteries in the heart (coronary arteries) and eventual obstruction by blood clot (thrombosis).” – http://www.mrc-gprf.ac.uk/maindocs/research/display.s?nphsii
  • Southampton Women’s Survey. “3,000 infants recruited by 2006, with maternal dietary data during pre-pregnancy and pregnancy, and postnatal follow-up”. http://www.mrc.soton.ac.uk/sws/involve.htm
  • Twin Research UK: “We provide a list of the vast majority of phenotypes that have been collected on at least 1,000 individuals in the Twins UK study” – http://www.twin-research.ac.uk/
  • UK Biobank – “a unique resource for ethical research into genetic and environmental factors that impact on human health and disease, to improve the health of future generations.” http://www.ukbiobank.ac.uk/
  • The UK Millennium Cohort Study – held by the Centre for Longitudinal Studies, http://www.cls.ioe.ac.uk/text.asp?section=000100010002

United States of America

  • American Cancer Society Cancer Prevention Study-II Nutrition Cohort (ACS CPS-II): “The American Cancer Society Cancer Prevention Study II Nutrition Cohort (CPS-II) was established in 1992. The cohort includes more than 86,000 men and 97,000 women who completed a mailed questionnaire in 1992. Starting in 1997, follow-up questionnaires have been sent to surviving cohort members every other year to update exposure information and to ascertain occurrence of new cases of cancer; a 90% response rate was achieved for follow-up questionnaires in 1997 and 1999. Incident cancers are verified through medical records, state cancer registries, or death certificates. From June 1998 through June 2001, blood samples were collected from a subgroup of 39,376 cohort members. The CPS-II has accrued 500 cases of breast cancer (and their age and race-matched controls) and 1,450 cases of prostate cancer (and their age and race-matched controls) who were diagnosed after completing the 1992 questionnaire and who gave a single blood sample during the period June 1998 through June 2001.” – http://epi.grants.cancer.gov/BPC3/cohorts.html
  • CARDIA Study: “The Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) Study is a study examining how heart disease develops in adults. It began in 1986 with a group of 5115 black and white men and women aged 18-30 years. The participants were selected so that there would be approximately the same number of people in subgroups of race, gender, education (high school or less and more than high school) and age (18-24 and 25-30) in Birmingham, AL; Chicago, IL; Minneapolis, MN; and Oakland, CA. These same participants were asked to participate in follow-up examinations during 1987-1988 (Year 2), 1990-1991 (Year 5), 1992-1993 (Year 7), 1995-1996 (Year 10), and 2000-2001 (Year 15). A majority of the group has been examined at each of the follow-up examinations (90%, 86%, 81%, 79%, and 74%, respectively). Another follow-up exam in planned for 2005-2006 (Year 20). There are stored biologic specimens collected at each cohort visit, including DNA and immortalized cell lines.” – http://www.cardia.dopm.uab.edu/o_brde.htm
  • Flint Men’s Health Study (African-Americans /prostate cancer): “The study began collecting data in 1996 and identified 817 eligible African-American men ages 40-79 to participate. The study subjects were recruited from Flint, Mich., an urban area north of Detroit. Of the eligible group, 369 participants underwent an interview, clinical exam and serum test. Researchers contacted the participants again in 2000 for further testing; 183 took part in the second wave.” – http://www.mydna.com/health/prostate_cancer/ethnicity/msr1pc.html
  • Framingham – Cardiogenomics Program – Harvard: “149 cardiovascular risk genes SNP scanned, typed and analysed in the Framingham Heart Study. Currently comprehensively characterizing common genetic variation (linkage disequilibrium [LD] structure) in 52 candidate genes and identifying common missense variants in an additional 150 candidate genes identified by parallel mouse and human studies, and determining which of these genotypes are associated with echocardiographic measures of left ventricular size and function among members of the Framingham Heart Study (FHS).” – http://cardiogenomics.med.harvard.edu/genes/gene-list
  • Georgia Centenarian Study: “Phase 1 (1988-1992)A cross-sectional study examining unique adaptational characteristics of community-dwelling and cognitively-intact centenarians, octogenarians, and sexagenarians in Georgia. A collaboration among The University of Georgia, Medical College of Georgia, and Iowa State University. Funded by NIMH.Phase 2 (1992-1998)A study of longitudinal changes in adaptational capacity among the three cohorts. Funded by NIMH.Phase 3 (2001-2006)A study to identify and isolate longevity genes, neuropathology, and functional capacity of a population-based sample of centenarians and controls in 31 counties in Northern Georgia. A collaboration among The University of Georgia, Louisiana State University, Boston University, University of Kentucky, Emory University, Duke University, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, Iowa State University and University of Michigan. Funded by NIA” – http://www.geron.uga.edu/research/centenarianstudy.php
  • Harvard Cohorts participating in breast and prostate cancer study BPC3 (1): “There are four Harvard Cohorts participating in the BPC3 Study. The Physicians’ Health Study (PHS) was a randomized trial of low-dose aspirin and beta-carotene in the prevention of cardiovascular disease and cancer in men aged 40-84 at entry in 1982. This population was supplemented in 1999 with male physicians aged 50 years or older; more than 20,000 men provided baseline blood samples.” – http://epi.grants.cancer.gov/BPC3/cohorts.html
  • Harvard Cohorts participating in breast and prostate cancer study BPC3 (2): “The Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) consists of 121,700 women enrolled in 1976. In 1989-90, 32,826 participants provided a blood sample.” – http://epi.grants.cancer.gov/BPC3/cohorts.html
  • Harvard Cohorts participating in breast and prostate cancer study BPC3 (3): “The Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS) consists of 51,529 non-physician health professionals (e.g., dentists and veterinarians) of whom 18,410 gave a blood sample in 1993 and 15,100 gave buccal cell samples in 1999.” – http://epi.grants.cancer.gov/BPC3/cohorts.html
  • Harvard Cohorts participating in breast and prostate cancer study BPC3 (4): “The Women’s Health Study (WHS) is a randomized trial of low-dose aspirin and vitamin E for the prevention of cardiovascular disease and cancer among 39,876 female health professionals aged 45 years or older at baseline in 1993; 28,263 women provided blood samples prior to randomization.” – http://epi.grants.cancer.gov/BPC3/cohorts.html
  • Multiethnic Cohort Study (Hawaii and Los Angeles): “The Multiethnic/Minority Cohort Study was established in Hawaii and Los Angeles in 1993-1996 to explore the relationship of diet and lifestyle to cancer. 215,000 men and women primarily of African-American, Japanese, Latino, Native Hawaiian, and Caucasian origin were enrolled, a unique ethnic diversity with representation of minority populations. Each participant completed a 26-page mail questionnaire that included an extensive quantitative diet history, as well as other demographic, medical, and lifestyle information. Multiple 24-hour diet recalls were collected on more than 2,000 of the participants for calibration. During 1998-2003, a brief follow-up questionnaire was completed by more than 80% of the participants; in the current period of 2003-2008, the baseline dietary questionnaire will be repeated. More than 25,000 cases of breast, prostate, colorectal, and lung cancer are expected by 2007. In addition, biochemical measurements on 750 members of the cohort will be used.” – http://epi.grants.cancer.gov/ResPort/Multiethnic.html
  • National Children’s Study (USA): “The goal is to follow 100,000 children across 96 US locations from before birth through age 21. The Study Plan focuses on several priority health themes: outcomes of pregnancy, child growth and development, injury, asthma, and psychological and emotional health.” – http://nationalchildrensstudy.gov/
  • National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES): “NHANES 1999-2003 Survey: The current NHANES survey began in 1999. We have obtained DNA from whole blood specimens obtained from 8,000 subjects aged 20 yrs and older. These additional 8,000 DNA samples will significantly expand the existing NHANES DNA bank and will be an important resource for intramural (CDC) and extramural genetic research programs.” – http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes.htm
  • Northwestern University Hospital DNA Bank, Chicago: “Northwestern University has launched the Chicago area’s first hospital gene bank and hopes to eventually recruit as many as 100,000 people willing to donate their DNA in the interest of science. NUgene will use DNA samples and personal health information from volunteers, plus genotypic information, to search out genes that play a role in diseases and then to determine personalized treatments, according to Northwestern officials. The university is the second institution (after Marshfield) in the U.S. to announce plans for such a gene bank.” – http://www.nugene.org/
  • Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial (NCI): “The Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial is a multi-institution study sponsored and coordinated by NCI. The PLCO has enrolled more than 154,000 men and women in a large-scale clinical trial to determine whether certain cancer screening tests reduce deaths from prostate, lung, colorectal, and ovarian cancer. Participants 55-74 joined the trial between 1992 and 2001 at 10 centers across the country. Half of these participants were selected by chance to receive specific screening tests and half receive routine care by their personal health care providers. All participants provide regular updates on a variety of health measurements in an annual questionnaire, as well as blood samples for use in studies of biologic markers of cancer risk. Half of participants in the screening arm have had blood samples taken at baseline.” – http://epi.grants.cancer.gov/BPC3/cohorts.html#plco
  • Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation (SWAN): “SWAN has seven clinical study sites located in six states, two in California, and one each in Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The SWAN cohort was recruited in 1996/7 and consists of 3302 African American, Caucasian, Chinese American, Hispanic and Japanese American women. Cohort members complete an annual clinic visit. Detailed follow up information on the website. The SWAN DNA Repository currently contains extracted diluted DNA from ~ 1450 SWAN participants. EB transformed B-lymphocytes for genomic or proteomic studies are available.” – http://www.swanrepository.org/