Date of filling in this questionnaire or last update: 25/06/2026
1. IDENTIFICATION & BASIC DESCRIPTION
Cohort name
RHINE - Respiratory Health in Northern Europe
Country
  • Denmark
  • Estonia
  • Iceland
  • Norway
  • Sweden
Name
Christer Janson
Institution
Uppsala University
Email
christer.janson@medsci.uu.se
Personal website
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Christer-Janson
Do you want to add another Principal Investigator of the Cohort
  • Add another Principal Investigator of the cohort
Name
Vivi Schlünssen
Institution
Aarhus University
Email
vs@ph.au.dk
Phone
+45 28992499
Personal website
http://au.dk/da/vs@ph
Do you want to add another Principal Investigator of the Cohort
  • Add another Principal Investigator of the cohort
Name
Ane Johannesen
Institution
Bergen University
Email
Ane.Johannessen@uib.no
Personal website
https://www.uib.no/en/persons/Ane.Johannessen
Website
  • https://rhine.w.uib.no/
Name of committee
Approved in National Ethical Committees in each of the included countries
Upload files
Contact Principal Investigator (name)
Christer Janson, christer.janson@medsci.uu.se
Is this cohort part of a consortium? (name consortium)
The European Occupational Exposome Mega Cohort Consortium (OMega-X)
Participation in pooled analyses
  • The cohort is potentially interested in participating in pooled analyses of (European) occupational cohort studies (note pooled analyses also includes remote decentralized analyses that would not require any transfer of primary data as well as meta-analyses).
Main aim of cohort, please briefly describe the main objectives of the cohort
The RHINE study group is a network created by the scientists from Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Estonia who are involved in the European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS). The aims of the RHINE study are: 1.To assess the incidence and remission rate of asthma and allergic rhinitis and to determine risk factors in a representative Nordic population sample. 2. To assess the influence of occupational and home related environmental exposure on the development of asthma and allergic rhinitis in Northern Europe. 3. To investigate the association between the menstrual cycle and asthmatic symptoms in women. 4. To assess the incidence and remission of sleep disturbances and determine risk factors including atopy and asthma.
Study design (please select as many as appropriate)
  • Prospective cohort
Source population (please select as many as appropriate)
  • General population: International
Comparators (please select as many as appropriate)
  • Internal study population
Inclusion criteria
Representative population based samples of 20-44 year old participants clustered by age groups and sex in Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Estonia
Enrollment
Completed
Age range at entry (main cohort)
Minimum Maximum Mean
20 44 31
Men at enrollment
10,071
Women at enrollment
11,588
Children (<18 years) at enrollment
0
Men at last follow-up
5,320
Women at last follow-up
6,121
Children (<18 years) at last follow-up
0
Participation rate at enrollment (if known)
86
2. OUTCOME FOLLOW-UP
Type of data for outcome follow-up (please select as many as appropriate)
  • Active (contact with participants)
First follow-up period (provide year)
1999
Last follow-up period (provide year)
2022
Number of follow-ups after baseline (provide number)
3
Participation at last follow-up (if known)
53
3. OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURES
Source of exposure data collected (please select as many as appropriate)
  • Questionnaire, Personal (Self-reporting or interview)
Occupational history/time frame
Lifetime
Occupational coding performed
Yes
Occupation (specify coding system used)
  • ISCO 88
Methods for exposure assessment (please select as many as appropriate)
  • Job Exposure Matrix
  • Self-report
  • Other
Specify: Job Exposure Matrix / Other
Nordic asthma JEM - please see Lillienberg L, Dahlman-Höglund A, Schiöler L, Torén K, Andersson E. Exposures and asthma outcomes using two different job exposure matrices in a general population study in northern Europe. Ann Occup Hyg. 2014 May;58(4):469-81. doi:
Website
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24504176/
Main categories
  • Dusts and fibres
Comments
Full job history available - have most been used to assses airborne exposure using asthma JEMs
4. OUTCOMES EVALUATED
Baseline - type of outcome data collected (select more than one if applicable)
  • Questionnaire, individual (self-recording or interview)
Follow-up - type of outcome data collected (select more than one if applicable)
  • Questionnaire, individual (self-recording or interview)
Outcome type (please select as many as appropriate)
  • Morbidity
  • Disability
Diagnostic groups based on ICD10
  • E Malnutrition and obesity
  • I Heart disease
  • J Respiratory disease
  • L Skin, nail and hair disorders
E Malnutrition and obesity
  • Obesity
I Heart disease
  • Hypertensive diseases
  • Acute myocardial infarction
  • Chronic ischaemic heart disease
J Respiratory disease
  • Vasomotor and allergic rhinitis
  • Chronic rhinitis, nasopharyngitis and pharyngitis
  • Chronic Bronchitis
  • Emphysema
  • Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
  • Asthma
L Skin, nail and hair disorders
  • Atopic dermatitis
  • Allergic contact dermatitis
  • Irritant contact dermatitis
Other health related outcomes
  • Sleep
  • Work participation
6. Other Information
  • Anthropometry
  • Demographics
  • Education
  • Environmental, air pollution
  • Environmental other (specify)
  • Medical history
  • Physical exercise
  • Residential history
  • Socioeconomic status
  • Smoking
Possibility for linkage to data registries/data enrichment via data linkage
  • Birth register
  • Cancer incidence
  • Disease specific clinical database
  • Employment status
  • Hospital discharge
  • Medication usage
  • Migration
  • Mortality register