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The European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) is a prospective cohort with more than 521,000 study participants enrolled from 23 centres in 10 western European countries. Detailed information on diet, lifestyle characteristics, anthropometric measurements, and medical history was collected at recruitment (1992-1999).

Biological samples including plasma, serum, leukocytes, and erythrocytes were also collected at baseline from 387,889 individuals and are stored at the International Agency for Research on Cancer – World Health Organization (IARC-WHO) and mirrored at EPIC collaborating centres. Overall, the EPIC biorepositories host more than 9 million aliquots, constituting one of the largest biobanks in the world for biochemical and genetic investigations on cancer and other chronic diseases. Follow-up measures of lifestyle exposures have been collected and will be centralized at IARC in 2016.

Last update – 25/04/2017

The Airwave Health Monitoring Study was established to evaluate possible health risks associated with the use of TETRA, a digital communication system used by the police forces and other emergency services in Great Britain since 2001. It is a long-term observational study following up the health of the police force with respect to TETRA exposure, and ability to monitor both cancer and non-cancer health outcomes. Around 53,000 participants have been recruited between 2004 and 2015.

Last update – 05/05/2017

InveCe.Ab (Invecchiamento Cerebrale ad Abbiategrasso) is a longitudinal, population-based study of disorders of brain ageing involving the assessment and long-term monitoring of the physical conditions and cognitive status. The target population comprises all Abbiategrasso residents born between 1935 and 1939, a reference sample, according to Population Register data, of around 1,700 people.

Those who agreed to participate in the Invece.Ab study were enrolled in a cross-sectional assessment and will be contacted two and four years after the initial data collection to participate in the longitudinal survey. Both the cross-sectional and longitudinal assessments include a medical evaluation, a neuropsychological test battery, several anthropometric measurements, a social and lifestyle interview, blood analyses, and the storage of a blood sample for the evaluation of putative biological markers.

Last update – 02/05/2017

The Northern Finland Birth Cohort Studies is an epidemiological and longitudinal research program which aims to promote health and well-being of the population. The prospective data collected from the Northern Finland forms a unique resource, allowing to study the emergence of diseases which can be based on genetic, biological, social or behavioural risk factors.

NFBC includes two longitudinal and prospective birth cohorts of women and offspring collected at 20-year intervals from the same provinces of Oulu and Lapland: The NFBC1966 was set with an expected date of birth in 1966, comprising of 12,068 mothers and 12,231 children (prospective data collection from maternity cards since 16th gestational week on average), and the NFBC1986 with an expected date of birth between July, 1st 1985 and June, 30th 1986, comprising 9,362 mothers and 9,479 children (prospective data collection from 10th gestational week).

Last update – 02/05/2017

The Sydney Memory and Ageing Study (Sydney MAS) began in 2005 to examine the clinical characteristics and prevalence of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and related syndromes, and to determine the rate of change in cognitive function over time.

Non-demented community-dwelling individuals (N=1037) aged 70-90 were recruited from two areas of Sydney, following a random approach to 8,914 individuals on the electoral roll. They underwent detailed neuropsychiatric and medical assessments and donated a blood sample for clinical chemistry, proteomics and genomics. A knowledgeable informant was also interviewed. Structural MRI scans were performed on 554 individuals, and subgroups participated in studies of falls and balance, metabolic and inflammatory markers, functional MRI and prospective memory. The cohort is to be followed up with brief telephone reviews annually, and detailed assessments biannually.

Last update – 20/07/2017

The CONSTANCES general-purpose cohort is intended to serve as an epidemiological research infrastructure accessible to the epidemiologic research community with a focus on chronic diseases and aging. CONSTANCES is designed as a randomly selected representative sample of French adults aged 18-69 years at inception; 200,000 subjects will be included over a five-year period. At inclusion, the selected subjects are invited to complete questionnaires and to attend a Health Screening Clinic (HSC) for a comprehensive health examination. A biobank will be set up. The follow-up includes a yearly self-administered questionnaire, and a periodic visit to an HSC. Social and health data are collected from the French national databases. Data collected for participants include social and demographic characteristics, socioeconomic status, life events, behaviors, and occupational factors. The health data cover a wide spectrum: self-reported health scales, reported prevalent and incident diseases, long-term chronic diseases and hospitalizations, sick-leaves, handicaps, limitations, disabilities and injuries, healthcare utilization and services provided, and causes of death. To take into account non-participation at inclusion and attrition throughout the longitudinal follow-up, a cohort of non-participants was set up and will be followed through the same national databases as participants.

Last update – 20/06/2017

The key goal of EUROSCA-NHS is to determine and compare the rate of disease progression in SCA1, SCA2, SCA3 and SCA6. To this end, a newly developed and validated ataxia scale (Scale for the Assessment and Rating of Ataxia, SARA) will be used. EUROSCA-NHS has a number of secondary aims including determination of the order and occurrence of non-ataxia symptoms, assessment of activities of daily living (ADL) and quality of life (QoL), and identification of predictors of disease progression and survival.

Patients are first seen at a baseline visit, followed by annual visits for 3 years scheduled ﾱ 3 months around the specified time point. After the initial 3 year observation period, visits are done at irregular intervals each time they went to hospital.

Last update – 12/08/2017

The original GAZEL cohort was composed of 20,625 employees of the French national gas and electricity companies (15,011 male employees then aged 40 to 50 years and 5,614 women between 35 and 50 years old) at its inception in 1989.

Follow-up is continuous and includes data collection on health status, lifestyle, and socioeconomic and occupational factors from various sources. A postal questionnaire is sent to the participants each year, and data are extracted regularly from the files of the personnel and medical departments of EDF-GDF and from national registers. Participants were invited in 1999-2000, 2008 and 2011 to a health clinic where medical and biological data were collected.

The main focus of research in the past decade was devoted to the study of the persistent, long-term effects of occupational exposures after retirement; of the transition between professionally active life and retirement; and on determinants of early ageing. Accordingly, in addition to the health, behavioural and social data collected yearly since the beginning of the follow-up, new data were thus collected on cognitive complaints, cognitive and physical functioning, limitations in daily activities, time use and social relationships of retirees.

Last update – 20/06/2017

The Million Women Study is the largest study of women’s health in the world. In 1996-2001, a quarter of UK women then aged 50-64 years (1.3 million women) joined the study. The aim of the study is to provide reliable information on potentially modifiable causes of common and serious illnesses, to help improve individual and public health. Study participants have provided details about their lifestyle and health and given signed consent for follow-up. Since recruitment their health has been followed mainly through electronic linkage to routinely collected NHS records (only 1.5% loss to follow-up after 20 years) and the whole surviving cohort has been re-contacted 4 times by postal re-survey to update exposures (1999-03, 2006-7, 2009-12 & 2013-14). Subsets of women have completed additional postal and online re-surveys.

Million Women Study is part of the Dementias Platform UK (DPUK), a multi-million pound public-private partnership to accelerate progress in dementias research http://www.mrc.ac.uk/research/facilities/dementias-platform-uk

Last update – 13/06/2017

The aim of the study was to determine the incidence of Parkinson’s disease and other degenerative / vascular parkinsonian disorders in a defined geographical area in the North-East of Scotland and to describe the long-term prognosis of patients and carers in an incident cohort compared to age-sex matched community controls.

Ascertainment:

  • Referrals from GPs
  • Referrals from hospital consultants
  • Hand-searching referral letters (neurology & DOME)
  • Electronic searching (GP, hospital discharge data)
  • Screening over 65 and over 75’s

Annual follow-up plus linked to death register.

Last update – 08/03/2017