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The Janus Bank contains blood samples from 318,628 donors. As of December 31, 2023, 123,719 cancer cases have been registered among donors in the Janus Bank.

The Janus Serum Bank contains samples from 318 628 donors.  As of December 31st 2023, 123 719 cancer cases are registered among the Janus donors.  

The Janus samples originate from three different sources. In the 1970s–90s, a number of population-based health surveys for monitoring risk factors for cardiovascular diseases, were performed in Norway. About 90% of the Janus donors were recruited from five of those health surveys. Approximately 10% of the Janus cohort members origin from Red Cross blood donors living in Oslo and the surroundings.

A small proportion of the samples (n ∼ 3 500) in the cohort are from donors that entered the cohort with a pre-diagnostic sample at one time point, were later diagnosed with cancer and donated a new diagnostic sample. For this subgroup, both pre-and post-diagnostic samples from the same individuals are available. See the table below for details. 

Table 1: Janus material

Characteristics

Males

Females

Total

Total donors included in the cohort

166 137

152 491

318 628

Average age at enrolment (years)

41

41

-

Number of individuals by sample origin

 

 

 

- Health Examination donors (Oslo 1, The Age 40 program Oslo, The Norwegian Counties Study, The Age 40 program all counties and TROFINN)

146 222

134 898

281 120

- Red Cross Blood donors

15 079

13 811

28 890

Number of donors by number of sample collection time points

 

 

 

Health examination donors

 

 

 

                      1

118 707

108 067

226 774

                      2

175 24

16 082

336 06

                      3

9 457

10 117

19 574

                      4

534

632

1 166

Red Cross Blood donors

 

 

 

                      1

5 213

5 971

11 184

                      2

3 066

2 940

6 006

                      3

1 929

1 620

3 549

                     4

4 871

3 280

8 151

Januskart
All of Norway's 19 counties (before the devision in 2018) participated in the population-based health surveys. The illustration below shows the distribution of samples by each county. Geographical distribution of sample collection in the Janus Serum Bank. Source: Cohort Profile: The Janus Serum Bank Cohort in Norway Int J Epidemiol. 2016;46(2):403-404g. doi:10.1093/ije/dyw027 Int J Epidemiol 

The average age at enrollment for all Janus donors is 41 years. The largest proportion of samples are collected from persons that participated in health examinations in their 40s. In the Red Cross blood donor group the average age is 34. See table below for details on age at first sample donation.

Table 2:Age at first samlpe submittet to the Janus bank
 

Age at
first s
ample

All
Janus donors

%

Health examination
donors

%

Red Cross
blood
donors

%

Men0-29

12 916

7.8

5 642

3.7

7 207

41.3

 30-39

26 986

16.3

21 808

14.5

5 438

31.2

 40-49

117 085

70.8

116 317

77.1

3 075

17.6

 50-59

3 308

2.0

2 107

1.4 

1 524

8.7

 60+

5 095

3.6

4 905

3.3

194

1.1

Total men

 

 

165 390

 

150 779

 

17 438

 
Women0-29

11 774

7.8

5 033

3.6

6 682

45.8

 30-39

25 475

16.8

21 867

15.8

3 786

26.0

 40-49

106 276

70.1

104 775

75.8

2 579

17.7

 50-59

2 589

1.7

1 377

1.0

1 341

9.2 

 60+

5 447

3.6

5 258

3.8

193

1.3

Total Women 

151 561

 

138 310

 

14 581

 

Cancer statistics

Every year the Janus Serum Bank is merged with updated numbers from the Cancer Registry of Norway. Below you can find information about number of cancer cases in Janus donors by cancer type and illustrations of the most common and rare cancer types by sex.

 

Number of cancer cases in the Janus serum bank distributed by cancer type (ICD-10 codes) and gender. Follow-up period is from 1953 to 2023

ICD-10

Cancer type

Males

Females

Totalt

C00-96

All cancer

70 220

53 499

123 719

C00-14

Mouth, pharynx

1249

581

1830

C00

Lip

73

19

92

C02-06

Oral cavity

491

289

780

C07-08

Salivary glands

117

105

222

C09-10, C01, C14

Oropharynx

427

139

566

C11

Nasopharynx

32

12

44

C12-13

Hypopharynx

109

17

126

C15-26

Digestive organs

14449

10 669

25118

C15

Oesophagus

815

240

1055

C16

Stomach

1580

721

2301

C17

Small intestine

337

252

589

C18

Colon

5 636

5162

10 798

C19-20

Rectum, rectosigmoid

3 259

1949

5 208

C21

Anus

106

199

305

C22

Liver

511

291

802

C23-24

Gallbladder, bile ducts

324

349

673

C25

Pancreas

1692

1357

3049

C26

Other digestive organs

189

149

338

C30-34, C38

Respiratory organs

7 734

5506

13240

C30-31

Nose, sinuses

115

57

172

C32

Larynx, epiglottis

445

88

533

C33-34

Lung, trachea

7139

5340

12 479

C38

Heart, mediastinum and pleura

35

21

56

C40-41

Bone

88

71

159

C43

Melanoma of the skin

4143

3 307

7 450

C44

Skin, non-melanoma

3 805

2 203

6 008

C45

Mesothelioma

315

48

363

C47

Autonmic nervous system

13

8

21

C48-49

Soft tissues

295

268

563

C50

Breast

91

13 087

13178

C51-58

Female genital organs

0

7 245

7245

C51-52, C57.7-9

Other female genital

0

325

325

C53

Cervix uteri

0

1234

1234

C54

Corpus uteri

0

3 212

3 212

C55

Uterus, other

0

29

29

CS6, C57.0-4, C48.2

Overy etc.

0

2 435

2 435

C58

Placenta

0

10

10

C60-63

Male genital organs

21392

0

21392

C61

Prostate

20 639

0

20 639

C62

Testis

536

0

536

C60,C63

Other male genital

217

0

217

C64-68

Urinary organs

7050

2476

9 526

C64

Kidney (excl. rental pelvis)

2 050

999

3 049

C65-68

Urinary tract

5 000

1477

6 477

C69

Eye

187

150

337

C70-72

Central nervous system

1 742

1932

3 674

C73

Thyroid gland

413

846

1259

C37, C74-75

Other endocrine glands

401

305

706

C39,C76,C80

Other or unspesified

787

668

1455

C81-96

Lymfoid/haematopoietic tissue

6066

4129

10195

C81

Hodgkin lymphoma

229

171

400

C82-86, C96

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma

2 291

1645

3936

C88

lmmunoproliferative disease

184

94

278

C90

Multiple myeloma

1119

681

1800

C91-95

Leukaemia

2 243

1538

3781

Number of cancer cases in the Janus serum bank divided by cancer type and gender. The numbers mainly represent cases with a pre-diagnostic sample. For some cancers that normally occur at a young age, some samples were collected post-diagnostic. Cancers with fewer than 5 cases are not presented in this table. 

 

Vanlige kreftformer 2023
Common types of cancer 2023
Kart over antall sjeldne kreftformer 2023
Rare cancers 2023

Age-period-cohort model of the Janus cohort members

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