Towards equal health services
The health of the population in Northern Finland as the starting point of birth cohort studies
Abstract
The study analyses how being born in Northern Finland and its impact on the life course were interpreted during the first twenty years of the Northern Finland Birth Cohort studies in 1967–1987. The data-gathering of the studies was launched in order to study health-related problems of the population in Northern Finland. Over time, birth cohort data has formed a significant body of research material that is used in various fields. Over 1,600 studies have so far been published based on the data and the number keeps increasing. The goal of the article is to illuminate the history of birth cohort studies
and epidemiology as well as the role that social medicine played during the era. Although the significance of the regional aspects of birth cohort studies diminished over time, the impact of social medicine remained strong until the 1980s. The study increases knowledge about the history of the foci of Finnish medicine and about the impact of social medicine from the 1960s until the 1980s.
Keywords: birth cohort studies, epidemiology, medical history, health history, Northern Finland
