Family-based cohort study is a special type of study design, in which biological samples and environmental exposure information of the member in a family are collected and related follow up is conducted. Family-based cohort study can be applied to explore the effect of genetic factors, environmental factors, gene-gene interaction, and gene-environment interaction in the etiology of complex diseases. This paper summarizes the objectives, methods and results, as well as the opportunities and challenges of the family-based cohort study on common chronic non-communicable diseases in rural population in northern China.
家系队列研究是一种特殊的队列研究方法，以家系为单位收集研究对象的生物样本和环境暴露信息，并进行随访，为探索复杂性疾病病因研究中遗传、环境、基因-基因和基因-环境交互作用提供重要资源。本文将对"北方农村地区居民常见慢性非传染性疾病的家系队列研究"的目标、方法、初步结果、机遇与挑战进行简单介绍。.
Keywords: Diabetes mellitus; Family-based cohort study; Hypertension; Stroke.