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The Fifth Tromsø Study


The fifth survey of the Tromsø Study (Tromsø5) was conducted in 2001. A total of 8130 men and women aged between 30 and 89 participated in this study. Two groups of people were invited to participate. The largest group comprised men and women in the Tromsø municipality who had participated in the special study in 1994-95 (the Tromsø Study Panel). A somewhat smaller group of 1916 men and women consisted of people who the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI) wanted to study as part of its nationwide health study of people in the following age groups: 30, 40, 45, 60 or 75 (the FHI panel).

Participation in Tromsø5, 2001

Age Men invited Women invited Male participants Female participants % men % women
30-34 628 654 237 348 37,7 53,2
35-39 55 87 46 75 83,6 86,2
40-44 533 559 315 389 59,1 69,6
45-49 473 520 299 373 63,2 71,7
50-54 160 96 144 92 90,0 95,8
55-59 232 674 219 630 94,4 93,5
60-64 744 916 657 827 88,3 90,3
65-69 637 687 591 636 92,8 92,6
70-74 542 683 495 604 91,3 88,4
75-79 470 627 390 495 83,0 78,9
80-84 156 202 114 145 73,1 71,8
85-89 6 8 4 5 66,7 62,5
90+ 0 4 0 0 0 0
TOTAL 4636 5717 3511 4619 75,7 80,8

The attendance rate was high among people who had participated in the special study in Tromsø4 (the Tromsø Study panel), 89 percent. However, the response rate was lower among people in the FHI panel and low among 30-year-old men, 57 percent and 38 percent respectively.

Examination methods and measurements

A three-page questionnaire accompanied the invitation. Different questionnaires were sent to people aged under 70 and those 70 years and elder. The questionnaires included questions on general state of health, diseases suffered by the respondent or their family, muscle pain and physical discomfort, use of the public health service, food habits and alcohol consumption, passive smoking and smoking habits, physical activity in leisure time, level of education and use of medicine. People who attended the study received another questionnaire that they were asked to complete and send back.

Everyone who attended underwent a relatively simple medical examination comprising measuring height, weight, waist and hip circumference and blood pressure. A blood sample was also taken to measure serum total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, triglycerides and glucose.

Members of the Tromsø Study panel who attended, 89 percent in all, were invited to attend a much more comprehensive examination like the one they experienced in the Tromsø4.