UK Women’s Cohort Study (UKWCS)
The UKWCS is a large cohort study of women in the United Kingdom, established to investigate the associations between diet, lifestyle, and chronic disease. Over 35,000 middle-aged women living in England, Wales, and Scotland completed the baseline postal questionnaire between 1995 and 1998. The cohort was followed up four years later in the Phase 2 survey between 1999 and 2004. All participants' health outcomes are regularly tracked through linkage with health registers. In addition, nine sub-studies have re-contacted samples of the cohort to explore more in-depth dietary measures or biomarkers of diet.
Study design
Cohort
Number of participants at first data collection
35,372 (participants)
Age at first data collection
35 - 69 years (participants)
Participant year of birth
Varied (participants)
Participant sex
Female
Representative sample at baseline?
No
Sample features
Countries
Year of first data collection
1995
Primary Institutions
University of Leeds
Links
Profile paper DOI
Funders
Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
Food Standards Agency
Medical Research Council (MRC)
Wellcome Trust
World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF)
Ongoing?
Yes
Data types collected
- Activity log (e.g. food, sleep, exercise)
- 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)
- Secondary data
- Self-report questionnaire – paper or computer assisted
- None
- None
- Healthcare data
- Mortality data
Engagement
Keywords
