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The Uppsala Birth Cohort Multigeneration Study (UBCoS)

The Uppsala Birth Cohort Multigeneration Study (UBCoS)

The starting point for the Uppsala Birth Cohort Multigenerational Study (UBCoS Multigen) was a representative and well-defined cohort of 14,192 males and females born in Uppsala University Hospital from 1915-1929 (the Uppsala Birth Cohort Study or UBCoS). In 2004 we were able for the first time to combine this original cohort with social and health data on all their descendants, obtained from routine registers (Koupil 2007). In 2007-2011, the data set was further developed by additional data manually collected from church parish records, school archives and records from Census 1930 and the period of follow-up was extended till end of year 2009/2010. The resulting multigenerational study spans five generations and comprises nearly 140,000 individuals on cohort members, descendants and partners (Koupil & Goodman 2011).

The uniqueness of UBCoS Multigen and the originality of our ongoing research stems from this combination of routine registry data (available in Sweden since 1960) with manually collected information stretching back to 1915. In this way, we are able to follow our first generation of men and women from before birth till age 80-94 years. This makes UBCoS Multigen ideally suited for testing lifecourse models, particularly those connected to 'developmental origins of disease'.

For further information or inquiries about access to data please contact the principal investigator Professor Ilona Koupil at ilona.koupil@chess.su.se.

References:

Koupil I. The Uppsala studies on developmental origins of health and disease. J Intern Med 2007;261:426-36.

Koupil I, Goodman A. Health Equity: A life course approach. Public Service Review: European Union 2011; 11:382-3.

Goodman A, Koupil I, Lawson DW. Low fertility increases descendant socioeconomic position but reduces long-term fitness in a modern post-industrial society. Proc Biol Sci. 2012 Aug 29. [Epub ahead of print]