Investigating the Role of Environmental Exposures in Prospective Cohorts: The German National Cohort

摘要

The German National Cohort is a multicenter study prospectively assessing the health of 200,000 adults aged 20 to 69, recruited since 2014 and re-examined starting in 2019. Currently, more than 150,000 participants have been recruited in 18 study centers within Germany as of March 2018. The study centers serve major urban areas (i.e. Berlin), mid-size regional centers (i.e. Augsburg) and often are expanding into the surrounding rural counties. As part of a "data freeze", data of the first 100,000 participants is currently undergoing quality assurance. Use of address data to integrate georeferenced information and biomaterials from external databases will be discussed. These databases include modelled air pollution, microclimates, UV, greenness, built environment, and noise. These data are part of already collected databases within national and European programs or will be collected in dedicated programs.