title: The Swedish Twin Registry: establishment of a biobank and other recent developments.
abstract: The Swedish Twin Registry (STR) today contains more than 194,000 twins and more than 75,000 pairs have zygosity determined by an intra-pair similarity algorithm, DNA, or by being of opposite sex. Of these, approximately 20,000, 25,000, and 30,000 pairs are monozygotic, same-sex dizygotic, and opposite-sex dizygotic pairs, respectively. Since its establishment in the late 1950s, the STR has been an important epidemiological resource for the study of genetic and environmental influences on a multitude of traits, behaviors, and diseases. Following large investments in the collection of biological specimens in the past 10 years we have now established a Swedish twin biobank with DNA from 45,000 twins and blood serum from 15,000 twins, which effectively has also transformed the registry into a powerful resource for molecular studies. We here describe the main projects within which the new collections of both biological samples as well as phenotypic measures have been collected. Coverage by year of birth, zygosity determination, ethnic heterogeneity, and influences of in vitro fertilization are also described.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. patrik.magnusson@ki.se
authors.forename: Patrik K E
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Magnusson
authors.forename: Catarina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Almqvist
authors.forename: Iffat
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Rahman
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ganna
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Viktorin
authors.forename: Hasse
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Walum
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Halldner
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lundström
authors.forename: Fredrik
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ullén
authors.forename: Niklas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Långström
authors.forename: Henrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Larsson
authors.forename: Anastasia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nyman
authors.forename: Clara Hellner
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Gumpert
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Råstam
authors.forename: Henrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Anckarsäter
authors.forename: Sven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cnattingius
authors.forename: Magnus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Johannesson
authors.forename: Erik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ingelsson
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Klareskog
authors.forename: Ulf
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: de Faire
authors.forename: Nancy L
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: Pedersen
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lichtenstein
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D018070:Biological Specimen Banks; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004200:Diseases in Twins / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D059647:Gene-Environment Interaction; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010641:Phenotype; D012042:Registries; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology; D014429:Twins, Dizygotic / Q000235:genetics*; D014430:Twins, Monozygotic / Q000235:genetics*; D055815:Young Adult