General population-based cohorts for studies of lung health in adults in Sweden

Epidemiological population-based studies about lung health in Sweden have mostly been focused on obstructive airway diseases. From the 1960s to the 1980s, the epidemiological studies were cross-sectional, aiming at the study of the prevalence of asthma, chronic bronchitis and respiratory symptoms and their associations with mainly demographic data. With the exception of highly stratified samples, for instance the men born on 1913 in Gothenburg and cohorts of occupational groups or work places, general population-based cohorts for studies of lung health in adults are still not very common. Two large-scale studies of lung health have been in progress in Sweden for more than 20 years; the Obstructive Lung Disease in Northern Sweden (OLIN) Studies, which started in 1985, and the Swedish part of European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS) since 1989 with the follow-up survey labelled Respiratory Health in Northern Europe (RHINE). During the 1990s the comparative studies between Finland, Estonia and Sweden (The FinEsS Studies) started. These and other studies will be reviewed in the following exemplifying change of aims and study designs over time as well as change of focus of risk factors under study.