THL Diabetes Studies

THL has collected samples and data from diabetics and their family members in several studies between 1986 and 2010.

Type 1 diabetes is more common in Finland than in any other country in the world. Type 2 diabetes is even more common, but the incidence in Finland does not differ from other developed countries.

A combination of genetic and environmental risk factors are involved in the pathogenesis of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes although the diseases have different causes. The focus of the THL Diabetes studies have been on the genetic background and environmental triggers of diabetes in Finland.

Altogether THL Diabetes Study collection contains more than 13 500 sample donors, collected in the separate studies listed in the following table.

Sub-collections included in THL Diabetes Studies
Sub-collection name	Number of sample donors in the original study	Age of the participants at sample collection	Specific features
DIME (1986-1989)	2512	1-	Childhood Diabetes in Finland Participants were families with a type 1 diabetic child with an age of onset of diabetes under 15 years.
IDDMGEN (1994-2006)	8911	1-	Epidemiology and genetics of IDDM in Finland Focus on families with more than one diabetic member.
T1D-GEN (2008-2010)	962	18-	A genome-wide genetic analysis of childhood and adult onset type 1 diabetes (T1D) in Finland Case-control study.
YA and YA-EPID (2002-2005)	2333	15-39 family members 1-	The epidemiology and risk of diabetes among young Finns Age of onset between 15 and 39. Mostly type 1 DM but includes also type 2 DM.

Samples and data available in THL Biobank

More information on the THL Diabetes Studies and description of the material available in THL Biobank can be found in the 'Read me first' file.

DNA sample is available for research from most participants and serum, plasma and PBMC samples from subsets. For more detailed information, please see the 'THL Biobank Sample availability table'.

Genome-wide SNP data is available for majority of the study participants, for more detailed information, please see the 'THL Biobank Omics availability table'.

The available phenotype data attributes are described in detail in the variable description files (on the right panel).

Additional information

If you are interested in sample collections focusing on diabetes, see also Botnia Study and FUSION Study in THL Biobank.
Botnia Study
FUSION Study