Information on past exposures is often warranted in health studies in Greenland, as living conditions have changed markedly in this century. To provide a longitudinal population-based research tool with such information the Department of Epidemiology Research at Statens Serum Institut has established 'The Greenlandic Research Database', a comprehensive population-based database comprising data from Greenland from national registers, population-based longitudinal and cross-sectional studies and human biological samples from 1979 to the present day.