The Metropolit cohort comprises all 11,532 men born in 1953 in the Copenhagen Metropolitan area living in Denmark in 1968. They have been followed repeatedly since birth for information on socioeconomic circumstances, cognitive ability and other health-related measures.
The cohort was established in 1965 by a group of researchers under the leadership of Professor Kaare Svalastoga at the Department of Sociology, University of Copenhagen to investigate social background and career among young men. Cohort members were all boys born in the Copenhagen Metropolitan area in 1953. In 2000, researchers at the Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen succeeded in locating this historical cohort, and the Danish Data Protection Authority approved that all the data including personal identification number could be re-used for studies on the mechanisms linking early life exposures with later health outcomes.
The Metropolit cohort has been supported with grants from the Danish Heart Association, the Lundbeck Foundation, the Health Foundation, the Else and MogensWedel-Wedelsborg's Foundation, the Independent Research Fund Denmark and Doctor Sofus Carl Emil and Wife Olga Doris Friis' Scholarship.
Access to data
The steering group of the Metropolit cohort welcomes collaboration and the interest of national and international colleagues.
If you have any questions regarding the Metropolit cohort, please contact Merete Osler. To access the cohort, please submit the research protocol.
Once the project has been approved, a collaboration agreement must be completed. The data requested will subsequently be made available upon final approval by the steering group with permission from relevant data inspection authorities.
Description of the Metropolit cohort
The Metropolit cohort data includes manually collected information from birth certificates on birth dimensions and parental social position for all cohort members (n=11,532). In 1966, 7,987 of the boys took part in the school's standard arithmetic and writing test, and the class teacher filled in the information about the boys' social status. Two years later, a sample of around 33% of the boys' mothers was selected to take part in an interview about the family's social conditions, attitudes towards upbringing and leisure activities.
In 2004, 6,292 men responded to a mailed questionnaire on health and lifestyle and at the same time, data from conscription board examinations (age 19 years) including cognitive testing and health information were collected manually.
In 2009-2010, 2,486 of 7,799 eligible cohort members participated in the Copenhagen Ageing Midlife Biobank (CAMB) study, which comprised questionnaires, cognitive and physical testing, and blood sampling. As a part of the CAMB study, blood measurements such as markers of low-grade inflammation (hsCRP, IL-6, IL-10, IL-18, IL-1β and INF-gamma), telomere length, HbA1c, ApoE, and serum lipids have been analysed in the CAMB and extracted DNA is available for genotyping. For more details visit: https://camb.ku.dk/
In 2011, the Department of Neurophysiology at Rigshospitalet, Glostrup, initiated a substudy to investige the relationship between changes in cognitive dysfunction and physiological mechanisms in the brain. Around 500 men selected on their young adult and current cognitive performance had a neurophysiological examination, including MRI. Some of them also underwent EEG and sleep tests. Theyhave also been re-examined during the period from 2011 to 2024.
Steering group
Merete Osler (chairman and principal investigator), clinical professor and senior physician, Center for Clinical Research and Prevention, Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospitals
Terese Sara Høj Jørgensen, associate professor, Section for Social Medicine, Institute of Public Health University of Copenhagen
Gro Askgaard, physician and researcher, Department of Medicine, Køge Hospital
Rikke Lund, professor, Section for Social Medicine, Institute of Public Health, University of Copenhagen
Anne Helby Petersen, assistant professor, Department of Biostatistics, Institute of Public Health, University of Copenhagen
Maarten Pieter Rozing, senior physician and associate professor, Psychiatric Center Copenhagen (Nimbus Parken)
Publications
The Metropolit cohort has been described and documented in the Cohort Profile: The Metropolit 1953 Danish Male Birth cohort and the paper Revitalising the Metropolit 1953 Danish male birth cohort: background, aims and some preliminary findings
So far, data from the Metropolit cohort has been applied in studies concerning a range of topics. Details can be found in the publication list