Cohorts and biorepository in SIMPLER

Cohorts within SIMPLER are multidisciplinary longitudinal projects on the association of lifestyle and genetic factors with morbidity and mortality in middle-aged and elderly women and men. These large population-based prospective cohorts were established more than 30 years ago for women and more than 20 years ago for men, both have repeated over time assessments of exposures.

In the left menu you find more detailed information on each cohort and their variables:

  • SMC, Swedish Mammography Cohort
  • COSM, Cohort of Swedish Men
  • SMC clinical subcohorts
  • COSM clinical subcohorts

The Swedish Mammography Cohort and the Cohort of Swedish Men are based on food frequency questionnaires including questions on health and life style. Each of these two cohorts have clinical subcohorts for sampling of clinical measurements including body composition, physical performance, cognitive function and collection of different biological samples, including blood, urine, stool and fat tissue. Additional information on outcomes is accomplished through matching with national, regional and local registers with high completeness of diagnoses.

A description of the cohorts is published by Harris et al. in 2013, The Swedish mammography cohort and the cohort of Swedish men: study design and characteristics of two population-based longitudinal cohorts.

Participants SMC and COSM
Questionnaire SMC COSM
1987 61 433
1997 38 984 45 906
2008 Health questionnaire 30 621 29 503
2009 Lifestyle questionnaire 25 332 26 156
2019 Health questionnaire 19 081 18 901
2019 Lifestyle questionnaire 14 922 16 166
Participants in the clinical cohorts
SMC clinical subcohort Uppsala SMC clinical subcohort Västerås COSM clinical subcohort Västerås COSM clinical subcohort Örebro
Cycle 1 N=5 032, collected 2003-2009 N=2 630, collected 2010-2019 N=4 754, collected 2010-2019 N=602, collection started 2014 and ongoing
Cycle 2 N=1 232, collection started May 2013 and ongoing Preliminary start 2021 Preliminary start 2021
85+, home visit N=307, collected 2012-2013 N=87, collected 2013-2014
*Sampling at Karolinska Institutet *N=82, collected 2014 *N=25, collected 2014

*Residents in Västmanland or Örebro County at start of Swedish Mammography Cohort 1987 and Cohort of Swedish Men 1997, who had moved to and were living in Stockholm at time of invitation to participate in the clinical subcohort.

Number of cases of death and different diseases after cohort entry
SMC, 1987-2019 COSM, 1997-2019 SUM
Death 28 698 20 866 49 564
Cancer (-2018) 15 441 12 935 28 376
CVD 41 615 31 511 73 126
IHD 12 173 12 724 24 897
Ami 6 735 6 872 13 607
Stroke 8 967 6 808 15 775
Heart failure 11 533 8 750 20 283
Diabetes 9 928 8 641 18 569
Fracture, all 22 727 9 843 32 570
Hip fracture 7 563 2 668 10 231
Cataract extraction 19 250 10 460 29 710

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