The Swedish BioFINDER Study

The Swedish BioFINDER Study consists of four cohorts where patients are included prospectively and followed longitudinally (www.biofinder.se). At baseline, these individuals undergo detailed and standardized cognitive, neurological and psychiatric examinations. Plasma, blood, CSF and samples for cell biology studies are collected. Most also have also undergone advanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging, and in many of the non-demented cases Amyloid and Tau positron emission tomography (PET) imaging have also been done.

The subcohorts include:
i) Healthy volunteers. Ca 350 volunteers aged 60-100 years old from the population-based Malm’ EPIC cohort (380 participants as of Feb 2016). Follow-up time: at least 8 years with investigations repeated every second year. In this cohort, appr. 20% is expected to have preclinical AD.
ii) Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) or Subjective Cognitive Decline (SCD). Ca 500 patients with MCI/SCD aged 60-80 years. Follow-up time: at least 6 years with investigations repeated every year. In this cohort, appr. 50% is expected to have prodromal AD.
iii) Patients with different dementia disorders. We include ca 250 dementia cases aged 40-100 years with AD, VaD, DLB, PDD or FTD. Follow-up time: at least 2 years with investigations repeated every year.
IV) Patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and PD-related disorders. Ca 300 patients with Parkinson-like symptoms. Follow-up time: at least 6 years with investigations repeated every year.

Last Update 21/09/2017

Types Neurodegenerative disease-specific cohort
Participant Types Condition diagnosed
Countries Sweden
Genders Male and Female
Sample sizes 0 to 4,999
Ages 60 to 100
Brain related measures Cognitive function|Mental health|Neurological
Funtional rating Individual physiological|Individual psychological
Anthropometric Blood pressure|Height|Weight
Physical Hearing and Vision|Reproductive
Biological samples Blood|Cerebral spinal fluid (CSF)>CSF biomarker data available|Other
Genotyping Gene screening
Brain imaging Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)|Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS)|Positron emission tomography (PET) – amyloid
Brain banking
Lifestyle Alcohol|Dietary habits|Smoking
Socio-economic Education
Health service utilisation
Institute names Clinical Memory Research Unit, Lund University
Current Sample Sizes 0 to 4,999

age at recruitment >60
last updated
recruitment period 2009-2014
estimated current sample size number value
cohort acronym BioFINDER
start date 2009-2014
pi Professor Oskar Hansson
website http://biofinder.se/biofinder_cohorts/
contact details SUS,
VO Minnessjukdomar,
Simrisbanv 14/4,
Malm’,
Sweden
abstract  The Swedish BioFINDER Study consists of four cohorts, at baseline these individuals undergo detailed and standardized cognitive, neurological and psychiatric examinations. 1,400 participants over the age of 60 have been recruited.
funders  The European Research Council|The Swedish Research Council|The Crafoord Foundation|The Swedish Brain Foundation|The Strategic Research Area MultiPark (Multidisciplinary Research in Parkinson’s disease) at Lund University|The Sk’ne University Hospital Foundation|The Swedish Alzheimer Association|The Swedish federal government under the ALF agreement|The Swedish Parkinson foundation|The foundation Gamla Tj’narinnor|The Evy and Gunnar Sandberg Foundation|The Olle Engkvist Foundation|The Kockska Foundation for Medical Research
contact email Email: [email protected]
contact phone number +46 40 33 50 36
estimated current sample size
sample sizes 1400