The NorthPop research infrastructure – data collection and availability for researchers

NorthPop is a new, comprehensive population-based mother-child cohort that is under construction in Region Västerbotten and which will include 10,000 pregnant women and follow their children (and parents) for at least 7-years. The population coverage is over 60%.

Data collection includes repeated web surveys, biological samples on repeated occasions (blood, urine, saliva, stool, breast milk), measurement of physical activity with accelerometers, blood pressure, short-term memory, as well as data from national registers and the healthcare record system.

So far, almost 9,000 families have been recruited and we expect to reach the goal of 10,000 in the summer of 2025.We are now applying for funding for data collection during the most intensive period 2024-2025 as well as for building a complete variable list and a web-based data extraction service to facilitate the availability of data for researchers.The database and biobank, which will be the largest of its kind in Sweden, has the potential to become an important research infrastructure for Swedish researchers and will significantly contribute to a wide range of scientific fields for several decades, by allowing researchers to address novel and relevant research questions, using state-of-the-art approaches.

The results are likely to have significant public health impact, potentially leading to improved recommendations and reducing the risk of important non-communicable diseases.