[The Chinese national twin cohort: an update].

The importance of large cohort studies in China has been increasingly emphasized. As special group in the population, twins provide excellent natural resources since they share the same birthday, maternal intrauterine environment and early family environment. Twin cohorts are unique for and benefit on controlling the confounding factors as age, gender (same-sex twins), genetic background (monozygotic twins) or early environment (being raised together) in the etiological studies on complex diseases. In this review, we briefly introduce the objectives, current situation, challenges and opportunities related to the Chinese national twin cohort, focusing on the characteristics of twins that are different from other groups in the general population.