TwinsUK: The UK Adult Twin Registry (TwinsUK)
TwinsUK is the United Kingdom’s largest and the world’s most clinically detailed adult twin registry with participants from across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The registry started in 1992 with an initial aim to investigate the aetiology of complex disease and the ageing process in several hundred identical twins. The registry has since expanded its focus and now includes over 16,000 identical and non-identical twins between the ages of 18 and 100 years.
Study design
Registry, Cohort - twin, Biobank
Number of participants at first data collection
> 16,000 (twins)
Recruitment is ongoing
Age at first data collection
Varied (twins)
Participant year of birth
Varied (twins)
Participant sex
All
Representative sample at baseline?
No
Sample features
Countries
Year of first data collection
1992
Primary Institutions
King's College London (KCL)
Profile paper DOI
Funders
Biomedical Research Centre (BRC)
Chronic Disease Research Foundation (CDRF)
European Union Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program
Medical Research Council (MRC)
National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Network (CRN)
Ongoing?
Yes
Data types collected
- Activity log (e.g. food, sleep, exercise)
- Audio or visual recordings (e.g. of child behaviour, facial expressions)
- Computer, paper or task testing (e.g. cognitive testing, theory of mind doll task, attention computer tasks)
- Physical or biological assessment (e.g. blood, saliva, gait, grip strength, anthropometry)
- Self-report questionnaire – online
- Self-report questionnaire – paper or computer assisted
- Wearable devices
- None
- Electroencephalography (EEG)
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
- Education data
- Geographic, spatial & environmental data
- Healthcare data
- Mortality data
Engagement
Keywords
Consortia and dataset groups
