Nordic Occupational Cancer Study (NOCCA)
The NOCCA study is a registry-based cohort of 15 million people from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, designed to study links between work exposures and cancer. Participants were identified through national censuses conducted in 1960, 1970, 1980/81, and 1990, and followed via cancer registry linkage. They were aged 30 to 64 years at entry and represented a wide range of occupations. No new participants were added, but the study was extended through NOCCA New (2019–2024) to include updated data and modern exposures. Follow-up is passive and ongoing, with cancer outcomes tracked from 1960 to at least 2017.
Study design
Cohort, Cohort - occupational, Registry
Number of participants at first data collection
15,000,000 (participants)
Age at first data collection
30 - 64 years (participants)
Participant year of birth
Varied (participants)
Participant sex
All
Representative sample at baseline?
No
Sample features
Countries
Year of first data collection
1960
Primary Institutions
Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (Työterveyslaitos, FIOH)
Karolinska Institute (Karolinska Institutet, KI)
Profile paper DOI
Funders
Finnish Cancer Registry
Nordic Cancer Union (NCU)
Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet)
Ongoing?
Yes
Data types collected
- Secondary data
- None
- None
- Census data
- Healthcare data
Engagement
Keywords
