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Netherlands Twin Register: A Focus on Longitudinal Research

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 February 2012

Dorret I. Boomsma*
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Psychology,Vrije Universiteitdorret@psy.vu.nl
Jacqueline M. Vink
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Psychology,Vrije Universiteit
Toos C. E .M. van Beijsterveldt
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Psychology,Vrije Universiteit
Eco J. C. de Geus
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Psychology,Vrije Universiteit
A. Leo Beem
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Psychology,Vrije Universiteit
Elles J. C. M. Mulder
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Psychology,Vrije Universiteit
Eske M. Derks
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Psychology,Vrije Universiteit
Harriette Riese
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Psychology,Vrije Universiteit
Gonneke A. H. M. Willemsen
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Psychology,Vrije Universiteit
Meike Bartels
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Psychology,Vrije Universiteit
Mireille van den Berg
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Psychology,Vrije Universiteit
Nina H. M. Kupper
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Psychology,Vrije Universiteit
Tinca J. C. Polderman
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Psychology,Vrije Universiteit
Danielle Posthuma
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Psychology,Vrije Universiteit
Marjolein J. H. Rietveld
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Psychology,Vrije Universiteit
Janine H. Stubbe
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Psychology,Vrije Universiteit
Louise I. Knol
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Psychology,Vrije Universiteit
Therese Stroet
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Psychology,Vrije Universiteit
G. Caroline M. van Baal
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Psychology,Vrije Universiteit
*
*Address for correspondence: Dorret I. Boomsma, Department of Biological Psychology, Vrije Universiteit, Van der Boechorststraat 1, 1081 BT, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Abstract

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In 1986 we began The Netherlands Twin Register (NTR) by recruiting young twins and multiples a few weeks or months after birth. Currently we register around 50% of all newborn multiples in The Netherlands. Their parents receive a questionnaire at registration and afterwards when the children are 2, 3, 5, 7, 10 and 12 years of age. Teachers are asked to rate the behavior of the children at ages 7, 10 and 12 years. Adolescent and young-adult twins were recruited through City Councils in the early 1990s. These twins, their parents and siblings participate in longitudinal survey studies that include items about health, fertility, lifestyle, addiction, personality and psychopathology, religion, socioeconomic status, and educational attainment. The total number of twins and multiples registered with the NTR is currently over 60,000. Subgroups of twins and siblings take part in studies of cognitive development, brain function and neuropsychological indices of attention processes, and molecular genetic studies of classical and behavioral cardiovascular risk factors. DNA samples are currently collected in selected twin families for two large linkage studies, which aim to find QTLs for anxious depression and for nicotine addiction. Sisters who are mothers of DZ twins contribute DNA samples for a linkage study of DZ twinning. Large cohorts of phenotyped family members from the general population are very valuable for genetic epidemiological studies and permit selection of informative families for gene finding studies.

Type
Articles/Netherlands
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2002