Tasmanian Longitudinal Health Study

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The world's largest and longest-running study on respiratory health

What is the TAHS?

The Tasmanian Longitudinal Health Study (TAHS), previously known as the Tasmanian Asthma Study, is a longitudinal cohort study on respiratory health. It was started in 1968 to examine the prevalence of asthma in primary school children in Tasmania. Almost every 7 year-old at school in Tasmania was recruited into the study. Later their parents and siblings were also included. Since then, the TAHS has evolved into an internationally collaborated study of respiratory diseases. More than 50 years since the study commenced, TAHS participants are still contributing data which advances our understanding of respiratory health.

Over the past 5 decades, the TAHS has received 41 research funding grants and collected data from 45,840 participants. More than 50 researchers and research students have worked on the study.

TAHS findings have informed over 80 research articles and 140 conference presentations, influencing new scientific knowledge, clinical practice and Australian policy around respiratory health.

Click here to learn more about the history of the TAHS. You can read about our current study activities here.

45840
Participants

41
Grants Received

Over 80
Research Articles

What next for the TAHS?

We are taking the TAHS into another decade!


The new 7th-Decade follow-up has commenced. We are inviting all our original 1968 Tasmanian Asthma Study participants to participate.
The first phase of the study will be a survey. The second phase will involve attending one of our lung function-testing laboratories, similar to our previous TAHS studies.

If you are an original recruit, please update your contact details with us and choose your preferred survey format (online or postal) via one of the following methods:
1. Contact us at 1800 110 711, inq-tas@unimelb.edu.au, or use the contact form
2. Use this link to update your contact information.

Are you a child of a TAHS participant?

Be a part of the future generation of TAHS!
Our research team is building on our world-class lung health research by making the TAHS a multi-generational study! We aim to investigate whether exposures of the parents, even before the child is conceived, increase the chance of their offspring developing asthma and other lung problems.

If one of your parents is a TAHS participant, please get in touch with us via one of the following methods:
1. Contact us at 1800 110 711 or use the contact form
2. Use this link to provide us your contact information

We will contact you about potential TAHS studies.

Latest TAHS news

Two new lung function trajectories identified by researchers may predict COPD risk
"Researchers have identified six possible FEV1 trajectories, including two novel trajectories, in a recent cohort study published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine. Three of the trajectories were associated with modifiable early-life exposures and contributed to 75% of COPD burden...."- June 19th, 2018
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Childhood pneumonia and pleurisy lead to smaller lungs: Tasmanian study
"Episodes of childhood pneumonia or pleurisy by age seven are associated with modestly smaller lung volumes in middle age, according to new research. The research, from the Tasmanian Longitudinal Health Study cohort, involved comprehensive measures of lung function in participants at age seven and again at ages 45 and 53" - Nov 6th, 2019
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Sleep apnoea screening at GPs may be missing up to 64 per cent of cases
"CRITERIA allowing general practitioners to refer patients directly to a sleep study may be missing more than half of patients later found to have clinically relevant obstructive sleep apnoea, according to the authors of research published in the Medical Journal of Australia..."- May 27th, 2019
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Are Australia’s roads giving you asthma?
"Australians aged 45-50 who lived less than 200 metres from a major road had a 50 percent higher risk of asthma, wheeze and lower lung function over a five-year period than those who lived more than 200 metres from a major road"- Nov 24th, 2017
Read More
Premature Birth Linked to Lung Disease Later in Life
"New research shows a link between premature birth and obstructive lung disease after age 50, highlighting opportunities for reducing risk factors like smoking in people born preterm" - Feb 20th, 2022
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