Study participants

We are extremely grateful to the more than 520,000 Finnish biobank donors who have volunteered to share their samples to support medical research. FinnGen participants come from all over the country. The age range of the participants is broad and both sexes are well represented.

The FinnGen study includes over 520,000 participants who were recruited by the Finnish biobanks before the spring of 2023. The study contains samples from all Finnish biobanks.

Large study cohorts like this are indispensable for genetic research, as they ensure that the study can produce scientifically robust and meaningful findings. With hundreds of thousands of participants, the probability of encountering enough individuals with any specific disease increases. Moreover, when studying common multifactorial diseases, the impacts of various genetic risk factors on the development of a particular condition are most often subtle. Thus, a substantial sample size is essential for the researchers to detect these weak yet informative signals.

The bar chart shows the age distribution of participants by gender. Under 1% of both genders are 0-9. Among 10-19-year-olds, 2% are females, 1% males. In 20-29, it's 6% females, 3% males. For 30-39, 9% are women, 4% men. Women in 40-49 make up 8%, men 6%. For 50-59, women are 11%, men 9%. Both genders in 60-69 represent 11%. Ages 70-79 have 7% each, and 80-89 are both 2%. Over 90s for both are under 1%. — Age distribution of the FinnGen participants by gender.

The median age of the FinnGen participants when donating the biobank sample was 53 years. About 218,000 samples (44%) are from men and 282,000 (56%) from women. The cohort includes ~315,000 patients from hospital biobanks, ~58,000 healthy blood donors, ~2,000 hematological cancer patients, and ~180,000 participants from population-based or disease-based national studies.

Infographic with 100 human figures in rows, 57 in pink representing females and 43 in blue representing males. — Sex distribution of the participants.