It is uniquely equipped to follow changes in health and well-being across the lifespan, what affects this, how certain factors work across generations and how changes in society affect the health and well-being of families going through similar events 30 years apart.

Between April 1991 and December 1992 more than 14,000 pregnant women in the Bristol area were enrolled in the study. Since then the mothers (11,992), fathers (3,394), children (11,381) and now grandchildren (1,100) in these families have attended multiple face-to-face clinics and completed questionnaires throughout their lives. To data over 2,200 peer-reviewed articles have been published using the study data.

Datasets

ALSPAC welcomes data and sample access requests from all bona fide researchers, whatever your research area, institution, location or funding source.

The dataset comprises a wide range of phenotypic and environmental measures, with over 75,000 data variables. Data includes 1.2 million biological samples, 40,000+ DXA scans, 1,000+ brain scans and 5,600 mental health assessments. The resource has a substantial genetic data collection such as whole genome genotyping on 11,000 children, 11,500 mothers and 3,300 partners, together with 1,000 mother-child pairs with genome-wide DNA methylation. Extensive data linkage includes primary and secondary healthcare, education and administrative records for participants from all generations.

Professor Nic Timpson, principal investigator, Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) said: “Joining the HDR UK Alliance formally is an important step for us at Children of the 90s. Our team work hard to ensure the effective delivery of data and samples to researchers from all walks, but there can never be enough of a concerted effort to ensure that visibility, access and availability are promoted. Our codes of practice and operational characteristics match very well to the Alliance and we are delighted to be actively part of this growing initiative. In particular, I am enthusiastic about how the Alliance look to not only encourage use of the UK research resource portfolio, but also to promote a federated approach – retrospectively with existing collections and prospectively as we aim to align and combine great studies.”