Scientific Concept of the National Cohort (status ... - Nationale Kohorte

A.3
A.3 Study design
� The KORA cohort in Augsburg since 1984/85 (PI H.E. Wichmann, HMGU Munich)
with 18,000 participants. http://www.helmholtz-muenchen.de/kora
� The EPIC cohort in Heidelberg since 1994 (PI R. Kaaks, DKFZ) with 25,500 participants
http://www.dkfz.de/de/epidemiologie-krebserkrankungen/arbeitsgr/ernaerepi/
ee_p01_epichd.html
� The “SHIP” Study in Greifswald since 1997 (PI H. Völzke, University of Greifswald)
with 4308 participants (SHIP-0) and recently another 5000 (SHIP-TREND) participants;
http://www.medizin.uni-greifswald.de/cm/fv/english/ship_en.html
� The EPIC cohort in Potsdam since 1998 (PI H. Boeing, DIfE), with 27,600 participants
http://www.dife.de/de/index.php?request=/de/forschung/projekte/epic.php
� The “HEINZ NIXDORF RECALL” Study in Essen since 2000 (PIs R. Erbel and K.-H.
Jöckel University of Duisburg -Essen) with 4,814 participants; http://www.recall-studie.uni-essen.de/
� The “CARLA” study in Halle since 2002 (PIs H. Greiser and J. Haerting, University
of Halle) with 1,779 participants http://www.medizin.uni-halle.de/imebi/index.
php?cid=143
� The DGS (Dortmunder Gesundheitsstudie )in Dortmund since 2003 (PI K. Berger,
University of Münster) with 1,312 participants
� The popgen Study in Schleswig Holstein since 2003 (PIs M. Krawczak and S. Schreiber,
University of Kiel) with 10,000 population controls, http://www.popgen.de/
� The Gutenberg Heart Study since 2007 (PI S. Blankenberg, University of Mainz) with
17,000 projected participants http://www.herzstiftung-mainzer-herz.de/herzstiftung/
forschung/gutenberg-herz-studie.html)
The existing German cohorts have varying thematic research emphases. The European
EPIC study, which includes the two German subcohorts in Heidelberg and Potsdam, focuses
on the relationships of nutrition, lifestyle, and metabolism with risks of cancer and other
chronic diseases. The KORA, SHIP, Heinz Nixdorf Recall, and CARLA studies are smaller
than the EPIC study, but include much more comprehensive subclinical and clinical phenotyping
of cohort participants. The National Cohort will not only extend and complement
these existing studies, but will address many additional research questions and form the
basis for high-quality epidemiologic training in Germany over the next two to three decades.
Recently established European cohorts studies
As described above, the National Cohort will be large enough to accommodate powerful
stand-alone studies on a variety of major chronic disease endpoints, including diabetes,
CVD, specific forms of cancer, aging-related degenerative diseases, and long-term health
outcomes of chronic infection. For rarer disease outcomes or for types of analyses (e.g., of
gene–environment interactions) that may require very large numbers of observed disease
outcomes, our strategy will be to conduct joint analyses for specific exposures and endpoints
based on data from the National Cohort and those from other large-scale cohorts in Europe.
These latter cohorts include, in particular, the UK Biobank study (500,000 study subjects,
who have already been recruited; http://www.ukbiobank.ac.uk/), the Swedish “LifeGene”
study (in planning phase; 300,000 participants projected, https://www.lifegene.se/), and the
French “CONSTANCES” study (currently in the pilot phase; 200,000 cohort participants
projected, http://www.constances.fr/). As some physical examinations and target outcomes
in the National Cohort are similar to those included in the one or the other European cohort
studies (see Table 3.16), the prerequisites for joint analyses are given.
Table 3.16 demonstrates the comprehensive program foreseen for the National Cohort in
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