Individual Study / UBCoS

Study design

Other : Multi-generational cohort study

Follow Up

Continuous follow-up in archives and registers 1915-2009

Supplementary Information

The data base contains information about families spanning up to five generations, including the 14 192 original cohort members (generation 1), their 20 790 biological children, 37 458 grandchildren and 24 618 great grandchildren born up to 2009. Data come from sources including archived obstetric and school records, the censuses of 1930, 1960, 1970, 1980 and 1990, LOUISE/LISA (register with data from the labour market, educational and social sectors for the years 1985-2008), the Education register, Medical Birth Registry, Inpatient registry, Cancer and Death registry and the Conscript registry. Additional information collected manually on social and early life characteristics (mother’s civil status, family size and social class of the family at birth, birth weight, length of gestation, mother’s age at menarche and pelvic size, complications in pregnancy and during delivery) and deaths before 1961 is available for the original cohort born 1915–1929 and their parents. Moreover, within each of these data sources multiple indicators were obtained capturing different facets of a particular socioeconomic domain (e.g. individual income plus family income). Finally, archive data includes raw data on occupation, providing scope to explore new classifications such as the recently-proposed Historical International Standard Classification of Occupations. For the purposes of the ATHLOS project and because of the differences in the study design with the other longitudinal studies (based on questionnaires, not only in registers), baseline and follow-ups were considered at the date of census registers in the years 1960, 1970, 1980 and 1990, and LISA registers in 2000 and 2008.

Koupil I. The Uppsala studies on developmental origins of health and disease. J Intern Med 2007;261(5):426-36. Koupil I, Goodman A. Health Equity: A life course approach. Public Service Review: European Union 2011; 11:382-3.

PUBMED 17444882

Sources of Recruitment

• Individuals
• Families

Number of participants

61,613

Number of participants with biosamples

Supplementary Information

The multigenerational study comprises over 150,000 individuals, including cohort members, parents, descendants and partners. For the purposes of the ATHLOS project, data from the first and second generation were selected including partners of the participants in each generation. The number of participants are around 62,000 (14,192 participants in the 1st generation, 20,790 participants in the 2nd generation, and the rest are partners of the participants).