Finnish Mobile Clinic Survey

The Finnish Mobile Clinic Collections ("Autoklinikka") consist of two separate health surveys: the Finnish Mobile Clinic Health Examination Survey (FMC) carried out during 1966-1976 and the Mini-Finland Health Survey, carried out in 1978-1980. Both surveys were done using a mobile clinic unit built on 4 buses that travelled around the country, performing health examinations and collecting samples and questionnaire data from more than 60 000 participants.

The Finnish Mobile Clinic Health Examination Survey included two phases: a baseline Health Examination Survey (1966–1972) that aimed at using population-based methods to identify common diseases in their early phase, to provide advice for preventive treatment (>51 400 participants), and to collect data for epidemiological research, and a Follow-up Study (1973–1976) that aimed at studying the incidence of certain common diseases and their determinants, the effect of early disease detection (>19 500 participants), and to collect data for health research. The survey was carried out in 31 study areas across Finland and included participants aged 15 years and older.

The Mini-Finland Health Survey was the first comprehensive nationwide study combining interview, questionnaire, and examination methods. The study aimed to monitor population health, need for treatment and functional abilities. It also aimed to collect data for epidemiological research. A representative sample of the Finnish population aged 30 years and older was invited to participate. More than 7200 individuals from 40 study areas across Finland participated in the health examination, and over 1000 also participated in the Health 2000 and Health 2011 Surveys.
Health 2000/2011 Survey website

Samples and data available in THL Biobank

A brief introduction to the Finnish Mobile Clinic Collections and description of the material available in THL Biobank can be found in the 'Read me first' file.

Follow-up data has since been collected from national health registers for all participants and the register follow-up is still ongoing. Blood samples have been collected from each study participant and serum and plasma samples are still available for research use. For more detailed information, please see the 'THL Biobank Sample availability table'.

In addition to samples, a wide range of phenotypes for the participants are available in the biobank. Categories of available attributes can be found in the data categories file.