The Hoorn studies and the Diabetes Care System West-Friesland studies were designed to investigate the course of development and progression of diabetes over a period of several years. The aim is to investigate which factors (psychological, social, biological and genetic) play a role in the development and progression of diabetes.

Between the years 1989 and 1992, a population-based survey of glucose tolerance was carried out in the Dutch city of Hoorn, which at that time was a medium-sized town of about 57 000 residents with a mixed rural and urban population in the West-Friesland region of The Netherlands. As the main goal of the study was to estimate the prevalence of pre-diabetes and diabetes in the general population, the only inclusion criteria consisted of being an inhabitant of Hoorn, aged 50–75 years and able to provide consent. Of the eligible 11 500 men and women, 3553 were randomly selected from the municipal registry. Of those 3553 men and women, 71.5% agreed to participate, with the nonparticipants being older (63.1 vs 61.7 years). The nonparticipants did not differ from our study population with respect to sex or self-reported diabetes. In addition to the nonparticipants, 56 non-Western descent participants were excluded, resulting in the Hoorn Study cohort of 2484 participants.

Hoorn studies logo

Between the years 2006 and 2007, again a population based survey was carried out in the city of Hoorn, which by then was a city of about 68 000 residents with a mixed rural and urban population. As the main goal of the study was to estimate the prevalence of pre-diabetes and diabetes in the general population, the only inclusion criteria consisted of being an inhabitant of Hoorn, aged 40-65 years and able to provide consent. Of the eligible 21 000 men and women, 6180 were randomly selected from the municipal registry. Of these 6180 men and women, 45.4% agreed to participate, with the nonparticipants being younger (51.5 vs 53.4 years) resulting in 2807 participants.

You can find more information on the Hoorn studies cohort website.  

Meta-data of this cohort can be found on the website of GECCO.

APH contact persons: Joline Beulens, Petra Elders, Femke Rutters
Contact: j.beulens@amsterdamumc.nl