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. 2020 Jan 2;20(1):2.
doi: 10.1186/s12888-019-2373-3.

Consortium on Vulnerability to Externalizing Disorders and Addictions (cVEDA): A developmental cohort study protocol

Eesha Sharma  1 , Nilakshi Vaidya  2 , Udita Iyengar  3 , Yuning Zhang  2 , Bharath Holla  4 , Meera Purushottam  5 , Amit Chakrabarti  6 , Gwen Sascha Fernandes  7 , Jon Heron  7 , Matthew Hickman  7 , Sylvane Desrivieres  2 , Kamakshi Kartik  8 , Preeti Jacob  9 , Madhavi Rangaswamy  10 , Rose Dawn Bharath  11 , Gareth Barker  12 , Dimitri Papadopoulos Orfanos  13 , Chirag Ahuja  14 , Pratima Murthy  4 , Sanjeev Jain  4 , Mathew Varghese  4 , Deepak Jayarajan  4 , Keshav Kumar  15 , Kandavel Thennarasu  16 , Debashish Basu  17 , B N Subodh  17 , Rebecca Kuriyan  18 , Sunita Simon Kurpad  19 , Kumaran Kalyanram  20   21 , Ghattu Krishnaveni  21 , Murali Krishna  22 , Rajkumar Lenin Singh  23 , L Roshan Singh  24 , Kartik Kalyanram  8 , Mireille Toledano  25 , Gunter Schumann  2 , Vivek Benegal  4 ; cVEDA Consortium
Affiliations

Consortium on Vulnerability to Externalizing Disorders and Addictions (cVEDA): A developmental cohort study protocol

Eesha Sharma et al. BMC Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Background: Low and middle-income countries like India with a large youth population experience a different environment from that of high-income countries. The Consortium on Vulnerability to Externalizing Disorders and Addictions (cVEDA), based in India, aims to examine environmental influences on genomic variations, neurodevelopmental trajectories and vulnerability to psychopathology, with a focus on externalizing disorders.

Methods: cVEDA is a longitudinal cohort study, with planned missingness design for yearly follow-up. Participants have been recruited from multi-site tertiary care mental health settings, local communities, schools and colleges. 10,000 individuals between 6 and 23 years of age, of all genders, representing five geographically, ethnically, and socio-culturally distinct regions in India, and exposures to variations in early life adversity (psychosocial, nutritional, toxic exposures, slum-habitats, socio-political conflicts, urban/rural living, mental illness in the family) have been assessed using age-appropriate instruments to capture socio-demographic information, temperament, environmental exposures, parenting, psychiatric morbidity, and neuropsychological functioning. Blood/saliva and urine samples have been collected for genetic, epigenetic and toxicological (heavy metals, volatile organic compounds) studies. Structural (T1, T2, DTI) and functional (resting state fMRI) MRI brain scans have been performed on approximately 15% of the individuals. All data and biological samples are maintained in a databank and biobank, respectively.

Discussion: The cVEDA has established the largest neurodevelopmental database in India, comparable to global datasets, with detailed environmental characterization. This should permit identification of environmental and genetic vulnerabilities to psychopathology within a developmental framework. Neuroimaging and neuropsychological data from this study are already yielding insights on brain growth and maturation patterns.

Keywords: Cohort; Environmental exposures; Externalizing disorders; Longitudinal study; Study protocol; Vulnerabilities.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Complex, multi-factorial underpinnings of externalizing disorders [–, –81]
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Accelerated longitudinal with planned missingness design and the generation of developmental trajectories (latent growth model)
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
cVEDA study timeline
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
cVEDA sample distribution and recruitment site characteristics (Map of India source: http://mapsopensource.com/india-states-outline-map-black-and-white.html; As stated on the webpage “All the content by www.mapsopensource.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License”)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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