Cohort Profile: The China Northwest Cohort study
Abstract BackgroundThe China Northwest Cohort study (CNC), a community population-based prospective observational study, aimed to investigate specific aetiology causes of NCDs and the long-term health hazards of NCDs in the northwest region of China with different ethnic groups.Study design and methodsA total of 118,572 participants (aged 35–74 years and including the Han, Uygur, Kazakh, Hui and Tibetan ethnic groups from five provinces of northwest China) were recruited between June 2018 and May 2019. Approximately 10% of the participants will be actively followed every 3 years via face-to-face interviews with the use of concise questionnaires to review risk exposures and disease incidence, as well as to review biological specimens, including blood, saliva and stool samples, which will be collected. Passive follow-ups will be conducted by periodic linking (every 6 months) of baseline survey data to establish electronic disease registries. The questionnaire survey, a regular medical examination and the storage of blood samples were conducted in the CNC baseline survey for all of the participants. Several other items from the medical examination were recorded for approximately 40% of the participants.DiscussionAmong the total participants, the proportions of Han, Uygur, Kazakh, Hui and Tibetan ethnicities were 75.3%, 13.0%, 1.7%, 8.2% and 1.3%, respectively. Many lifestyle and medical history factors were different across the ethnic groups. The genetic information from the multi-ethnic individuals, combined with abundant personal and environmental information, provided an important opportunity to reveal complex and specific mechanisms of the genetic and environmental factors associated with NCDs.