DANLIFE: The DANish LIFE course cohort
DANLIFE is a register-based cohort that includes information on exposure to childhood adversities amongst all children born in Denmark since 1980.
Description
The DANish LIFE course cohort (DANLIFE) is a nationwide, register-based, life-course cohort that is based on comprehensive and continuously updated information on social adversity and major life events from the Danish registers. These unique data from a large, unselected population provide an unprecedented resource for testing life-course mechanisms, such as sensitive periods and the accumulation of various stress factors across childhood, adolescence and young adulthood. The DANLIFE cohort is comprised of all people born in Denmark from 1980 onwards, so far totaling more than two million people who have been followed from birth until age 38.
The DANLIFE cohort includes linked data from the Danish registers. Every person born in Denmark is assigned a unique 10-digit personal identification (CPR, det centrale personregister) number at birth, which provides a direct link between information from both administrative and research registers in Denmark. This anonymous civil-registration number also gives researchers an exceptional opportunity to follow individuals longitudinally over time.
DANLIFE measures specific childhood adversities annually. These include:
| Childhood adversity | Definition |
| Foster care | Being placed in out-of-home care |
| Parental psychiatric illness |
A parent admitted for at least one day to a psychiatric hospital or ward with a primary diagnosis related to psychiatric illness (excluding primary diagnoses related to alcohol and drug abuse) |
| Sibling psychiatric illness |
A sibling admitted for at least one day to a psychiatric hospital or ward with a primary diagnosis related to psychiatric illness |
|
Parental alcohol abuse |
A parent diagnosed with a disease related to alcohol abuse or buying a prescribed drug used in the treatment of alcohol dependence |
| Parental drug abuse |
A parent diagnosed with a disease related to drug abuse or buying a prescribed drug used in the treatment of drug dependence |
| Parental separation | Parents no longer share the same primary residence |
| Death of a parent | Death of a parent |
| Death of a sibling | Death of a sibling |
| Parental somatic illness |
A parent diagnosed with one of the diseases included in the Charlson comorbidity index |
| Sibling somatic illness |
A sibling diagnosed with one of the seven somatic illnesses most commonly related to mortality in children between the ages of 0–18 in Denmark |
| Family poverty |
Family income below 50% of the median national family income |
| Parental long-term unemployment |
A parent being unemployed for at least 12 months within two consecutive years |
Access to data in the DANLIFE cohort is available through collaborative agreements, and access to the Danish registers is granted by Statistics Denmark and the Danish Health Data Authorities. Please contact Professor Naja Hulvej Rod to learn more.