The Cohort Directory is a searchable tool of UK population cohorts. The aim of the directory is to signpost users to individual cohorts to maximise the use and translation of findings of these valuable UK assets.
It has been developed in response to recommendations in the MRC Strategic Review of the Largest UK Population Cohort Studies (PDF, 2.07MB).
The information included in the cohort directory provides a high level overview of the cohort profile and type of variables and data collected.
To search the directory please use the filters or the free text box on the right hand side of this page. The cohorts can be filtered by gender, the age range on which variable data is available, the sample size at recruitment and the variables that are collected: anthropometric, physical measures, cognitive, lifestyle, socio-economic and biological samples.
The 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) follows the lives of more than 17,000 people born in England, Scotland and Wales in a single week of 1970.
The Aberdeen Children of the 1950s study is a population-based resource for the study of biological and social influences on health across the life-course and between generations.
Based at the University of Bristol, the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), also known as Children of the 90s, is a world-leading birth cohort study.
Born in Bradford is a long term study of a cohort of 13,500 children, born at Bradford Royal Infirmary between March 2007 and December 2010, whose health is being tracked from pregnancy through childhood and into adult life.
The Boyd Orr cohort is an historical cohort study carried out by the University of Bristol School of Social & Community Medicine to investigate the long term impact of children’s diet, growth, living conditions and health on adult cardiovascular and other chronic diseases.
The study involves over 110,000 women recruited between 2004-2009 from the general population from whom information has been gathered about factors that might relate to breast cancer risk or protection.
The British Regional Heart Study (BRHS) is a prospective study in middle-aged men drawn from general practices in 24 British towns, 7,735 men were recruited in 1978-1980.
The British Women's Heart and Health Study is a prospective cohort study of heart disease in over 4000 British women between the ages of 60 and 79.
The CFAS I study started in the late 1980s with the initial aim of investigating dementia and cognitive decline in a representative sample of more than 18,000 people aged over 65 years.
CFAS II based in England and Wales started in 2008, and builds on the design and infrastructure of CFAS I. It will provide data on generational and geographical differences including people in institutions.
DASH is a study of a multi-ethnic adolescent cohort in London which investigates social and biological influences on ethnic differences in health and well-being in adolescence.
The Dunedin Longitudinal Study investigates the health, development, and behaviour of a cohort of births born between April 1972 and March 1973 in Dunedin, on New Zealand’s (NZ) South Island
East London Genes and Health (ELGH) is a large-scale, community genomics and health study, tracking people of British-Bangladeshi and Pakistani heritage living in east London.
The primary objective of ELSA is to collect longitudinal multidisciplinary data from a representative sample of the English population aged 50 and older.
The E-Risk Longitudinal Twin Study aims to build knowledge about children's disruptive behaviour such as oppositional, conduct, hyperactive and inattentive behaviour.
The Oxford component of European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition is a prospective cohort of 65,000 men and women living in the UK, many of whom are vegetarian.
The Norfolk component of the European Prospective Investigation of Cancer (EPIC) recruited over 30,000 people from 1993 to 2000. EPIC-Norfolk participants are men and women who were aged between 40 and 79 when they joined the study and who lived in Norwich and the surrounding towns and rural areas.
EXCEED is a longitudinal population-based cohort which facilitates investigation of genetic, environmental and lifestyle-related determinants of a broad range of diseases and of multiple morbidity through data collected at baseline and via electronic healthcare record linkage.
Gemini is a large population-based twin birth cohort study of 2400 families recruited from all twin births between March and December 2007 in the UK.
The study recruited probands and their family members. Recruitment ended 10/05/2011.
Growing Up in Scotland is a large-scale longitudinal research project aimed at tracking the lives of several cohorts of Scottish children from the early years, through childhood and beyond. Over 14,000 children were recruited between 2005 and 2011.
The Hertfordshire Cohort Study comprises a nationally unique study of 3000 men and women born during the period 1931-1939 and still resident in the English county of Hertfordshire.
INTERVAL participants are healthy blood donors who took part in a 2-year trial to investigate optimum blood donation intervals.
News - Life Study update October 2015
The participants of the Lothian Birth Cohort 1921 were recruited to the project because they had taken part in the Scottish Mental Survey 1932.
The participants of the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 were recruited to the project because they had taken part in the Scottish Mental Survey 1947.
The Million Women Study is the largest study of women's health in the world. In 1996-2001, a quarter of UK females then aged 50-64 years (1.3 million women) joined the study.
The NSHD has informed UK health care, education and social policy for more than 50 years and is the oldest and longest running of the British birth cohort studies.
The Newcastle 85+ Study is the biggest and most comprehensive population-based longitudinal study of health and ageing in the over-85s anywhere in the world and is providing new insights into health factors as the population becomes older.
NICOLA is Northern Irelands’ long-term study of ageing in the over 50’s, with 8500 participants randomly selected from the free living population.
The Orkney Complex Disease Study (ORCADES) is a genetic epidemiology study based in an isolated population in the north of Scotland.
The Southall And Brent REvisited Study (SABRE) is the largest tri-ethnic population-based cohort in the UK, involving nearly 5000 European, Indian Asian and African Caribbean men and women.
The Southampton Women’s Survey (SWS) is the only study in Europe of women and their children, for which information was obtained from the mothers before conception of the child. The aim is to learn more about the dietary and lifestyle factors that influence the health of women and their children.
The Airwave Health Monitoring Study is a long-term observational study following up the health of police officers and staff across Great Britain, with the ability to monitor both cancer and non-cancer health outcomes through data linkage.
The need in many countries to work longer raises important questions concerning the health risks and benefits of extended working life, its feasibility in those with problems of ageing, and how best to support and maximize the well-being of older workers.
The Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) is a multi-disciplinary research project following the lives of around 19,000 children born in the UK in 2000-01. It is the most recent of Britain’s world-renowned national longitudinal birth cohort studies.
The National Child Development Study (NCDS) follows the lives of 17,000 people born in England, Scotland and Wales in a single week of 1958.
The Whitehall II study was established in 1985 to investigate the importance of socioeconomic circumstances for health by following a cohort of 10,308 working men and women aged 35-55 at enrolment.
The Twins Early Development Study is one of the foremost on-going twin studies of its kind in the world.
TwinsUK was set up in 1992 and is currently based at the Department of Twin Research, King’s College London. Its initial main aim was to investigate the incidence of osteoporosis and other rheumatologic diseases.
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.
The UK Women’s Cohort Study began in 1994 and is one of the largest cohort studies investigating associations between diet and cancer in the UK. A large cohort of over 35,000 middle aged women has been created encompassing a wide range of different eating patterns, including diets currently of interest to research into protection against cancer and coronary heart disease.
Understanding Society began in 2009 and is a unique and valuable academic study that captures important information every year about the social and economic circumstances and attitudes of people living in 40,000 UK households.
The Viking Health Study – Shetland (VHSS) is a genetic epidemiology study based in an isolated population in the north of Scotland.
The 11 to 16 Study was a school-based study of health and health behaviours which followed a cohort living in a predominantly urban area in and around Glasgow City.
The Twenty-07 Study was set up in 1986 in order to investigate the reasons for differences in health by socio-economic circumstances, gender, area of residence, age, ethnic group, and family type.
The Wirral Child Health and Development Study was established in 2007 to identify early social, emotional and biological risks and processes involved in the development of childhood conduct problems.
