Cohort Profile: The Danish Conscription Database(DCD): A cohort of 728 160 men born from 1939 through 1959

The Danish Conscription Database (DCD) was established to enable studies of the influence of early physical and mental exposures on adverse health and social outcomes from a life-course perspective. In Denmark, all young men are requested to appear before the conscription board when they turn 18 years, to be assessed for military service. The DCD was established by digitizing information from conscription board register cards on the height, weight, educational level, intelligence test score and examination details of Danish conscripts. The DCD contains information on 728 160 men born from 1939 through 1959 and examined by the conscription board from 1957 through 1984. The unique Danish personal identification number of each individual conscript has been traced, and this allows linkage of the DCD to all Danish health and socioeconomic registers. More than 130 000 deaths have been identified in a recent linkage to the Danish Register of Cause of Death. We encourage collaboration, and interested researchers should contact: danishconscriptiondatabase.glostrup-hospital@regionh.dk.