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The original study (1969-73) had five main objectives: (i) to study the relationship of birth weight (BW) and gestational age (GA) to infant mortality and the incidence of congenital defects; (ii) to study maternal blood pressure before and during pregnancy and the incidence of toxaemia; (iii) to assess the effects of parental consanguinity on reproductive outcomes; (iv) to examine the impact of family planning programmes on fertility and (v) to estimate rates of foetal loss, and neonatal, infant and early childhood mortality.1 The subsequent follow-up studies focused on the effects of prenatal factors BW and GA on physical growth and development and mortality during childhood and adolescence.

For the follow-up in young adulthood (1998-2002), the main objective was to study glucose tolerance, insulin resistance and insulin secretion and a range of cardiovascular risk factors (body composition, blood pressure and plasma lipid concentrations) in relation to parental size, neonatal size and childhood growth.

The Prospective Epidemiological Risk Factor (PERF) Study is an ambidirectional population-based study of postmenopausal women set up with the purpose of obtaining a better understanding of the aetiology and pathogenesis of age-related diseases. Participants were recruited from a source population of 8875 women residing in Denmark. The baseline examination (PERF I) comprised 5855 women with mean age of 70.8 years (49.7-88.8) and took place between 1999 and 2001. All subjects have been followed up with registry linkage using population-based national registries. Further, a subcohort was re-invited to attend a follow-up visit between 2013 and 2014 (PERF II). Registry data are available for all baseline participants. From the baseline population, 2103 were enrolled in PERF II.

The Scottish Health Survey (SHeS) provides a detailed picture of the health of the Scottish population in private households and is designed to make a major contribution to the monitoring of health in Scotland.
The series aims to:
estimate the occurrence of particular health conditions
estimate the prevalence of certain risk factors associated with health
look at differences between regions and between subgroups of the population
monitor trends in the population’s health over time
make a major contribution to monitoring progress towards health targets

The Limache cohort was set up to assess the programming and life course events hypotheses in relation to cardiovascular risk factors and chronic respiratory conditions, especially asthma, in the context of an unprecedented economic growth in Chile. The cohort was a representative sample of 1,232 participants born between 1974 and 1978 in the hospital of Limache. The study includes data collected at birth, during the 1st year of life, at 22 to 28 years (collected between 2000 and 2002) and at 32 to 38 years (collected between 2010 and 2012).

This was possible because details were collected for all births in the country including duration of gestation, birthweight and birth length. Limache, a semirural agricultural area relatively near Santiago and close to Viña del Mar and Valparaíso, was chosen because: a birth register in the hospital has been kept since the 1970s; paediatric clinical records were kept in the local hospital ; and there was demographic information that emigration from this area was low so that we would be able to find most participants born in the 1970s still living in Limache and in Olmué, a neighbouring area.

The Maastricht Study is an extensive phenotyping study that focuses on the etiology of type 2 diabetes, its classic complications (cardiovascular disease, nephropathy, neuropathy and retinopathy), and its emerging comorbidities, including cognitive decline, depression, and gastrointestinal, respiratory and musculoskeletal diseases. The study uses advanced state-of-the-art imaging techniques and extensive biobanking to determine health status in a population-based cohort of 10,000 individuals that is enriched with type 2 diabetes participants. The Maastricht Study is expected to become one of the most extensive phenotyping studies in both the general population and type 2 diabetes participants worldwide.

The Maastricht Study allows researchers access to data to encourage publications of high quality papers and presentations. External researchers (those without an MUMC or UM affiliation) can only submit a research proposal in cooperation with a member of the Maastricht Study Management Team and/or Maastricht Study Participating researchers.

The Moli-sani study (www.moli-sani.org) is a cohort study aiming at evaluating the risk factors (environmental, genetics, bio-molecular) linked to chronic-degenerative disease with particular regard to cancer, cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and neurodegenerative disease.
The study has recruited, between March 2005 and April 2010, 24,325 people aged ³ 35 living in the Molise region, from city hall registries by a multistage sampling. Exclusion criteria were pregnancy at the time of recruitment, disturbances in understanding or willingness, current poly-traumas or coma, or refusal to sign the informed consent. Participation rate was 70%.
All subjects underwent electrocardiogram and spirometric tests aimed to evaluate pulmonary diffusion capacity, gas diffusion and pulmonary volumes through plethysmography.
The European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition FFQ was used to determine daily nutritional intakes consumed in the past year.
A follow-up based on linkage with hospital discharge records (SDO) and mortality regional registry was performed at December 2011 with a median of 4.3 years and at December 2014 with a median of 9.6 years. Outcomes analysed at follow-up are: mortality for any and specific causes, hospitalization and hospital stay, coronary artery disease, stroke, atrial fibrillation, heart failure, diabetes, cancer.

UK Biobank is a major national health resource, and a registered charity in its own right, with the aim of improving the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of a wide range of serious and life-threatening illnesses including cancer, heart diseases, stroke, diabetes, arthritis, osteoporosis, eye disorders, depression and forms of dementia.

500,000 people aged between 40-69 years were recruited in 2006-2010 from across the country to take part in this project. They have undergone measures, provided blood, urine and saliva samples for future analysis, detailed information about themselves and agreed to have their health followed. The cohort is primarily followed through data linkage but the cohort was re-contacted in 2012-13 with a further 100,000 to be approached over the next few years.

The Whitehall II Study was established in 1985 to investigate the importance of socioeconomic circumstances for health by following a cohort of working men and women aged 35-55 at enrolment. Participants have taken part in twelve data collection phases, seven of which have included a medical screening. The aim of the study is to understand the causes of age-related heterogeneity in health.

By combining the existing 30 years of data on social circumstances, risk factors and chronic disease with new clinical measures of cognitive function, mental disorders and physical functioning, Whitehall II has been transformed interdisciplinary study of ageing. In addition to providing insights into individual and social differences in the development of frailty, disability, dependence, and dementia, the study helps in the determination of optimal time windows and targets for interventions that maximise the potential for healthy-ageing and independent living.

On 1st June 1932, as part of the Scottish Mental Survey, 87,498 Scottish schoolchildren born in 1921 sat the same test of mental ability: the Moray House Test. In 1997, the Universities of Aberdeen and Edinburgh began to search for men and women still living in Scotland who took part in these tests.
On 1st June 1998, about 80 individuals gathered in the Aberdeen Music Hall to re-sit the test exactly 66 years later. Participants were followed-up 5 times over a 10 year period.

Aberdeen University has followed all of the children born in Aberdeen in 1921, 1936 (see Aberdeen Birth Cohort 1936) and 1950-1956 (see Aberdeen Children of the 1950s) as they grow and age.
Collectively these groups are known as the ABERDEEN BIRTH COHORTS, and have helped to advance our understanding of aging well.

Over the years, researchers have linked the results from these tests to health and social information.
The linked data has been used to answer questions like:
Does being born very small affect mental health later in life?
Is the risk of dementia related to childhood intelligence?
What influences quality of life in old-age?
Participants born in 1921 and 1936 have been invited back for a wide variety of studies at the University. Similar research is being started for the Children of the 1950’s group.

On 4th June 1947, as part of the Scottish Mental Survey, every Scottish schoolchild born in 1936 sat the same test of mental ability: the Moray House Test. In 1997, Professor Lawrence Whalley discovered the Scottish Mental Survey test records at the Scottish Council for Research in Education in Edinburgh and began to trace people who had sat the test in Aberdeen.