The Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) is an ongoing pregnancy cohort study, aiming to include 100 000 pregnancies by 2008. The study is based on questionnaires to the mother and father, with biological specimens being collected from mother, father and child. The main purpose of the study is to find causes of serious diseases in mothers and children. These pages contain information for researchers wanting to use the data for research and for participants in the study.
Approximately 100 subprojects with specific research questions have been proposed. The questions cover environmental factors, such as medication, nutrition, infection and work exposure. Genetic factors and the interplay between genes and the environment will be studied. Blood samples from as many fathers as possible will also be collected, enabling association studies between genes and diseases.