The Hertfordshire Cohort Study: from historical to high-tech studies of musculoskeletal ageing in men and women entering their ninth decade

摘要

The Hertfordshire Cohort Study (HCS) comprises a nationally unique study of 3225 men and women born during the period 1931-39 in the English county of Hertfordshire and still resident there in the late 1990s.The study has previously been described in detail in an IJE Cohort Profile.1 In brief, from 1911 to 1948, health visitors recorded information on birthweight and weight at 1 year on infants born in Hertfordshire. In 1998, those born between 1931 and 1939 were traced through the National Health Service Central Register and a total of 7106 men and women were identified as alive and still resident in the county. Permission to contact these men and women was obtained from their general practitioners. Between 1999 and 2004, they were invited to participate in studies examining the interactions between early life, diet, adult lifestyle and genetic factors as determinants of adult disease.