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. 2022 Oct;37(10):1107-1124.
doi: 10.1007/s10654-022-00890-5. Epub 2022 Oct 19.

Framework and baseline examination of the German National Cohort (NAKO)

Annette Peters  1   2 ; German National Cohort (NAKO) Consortium; Annette Peters  3   4 , Karin Halina Greiser  5 , Susanne Göttlicher  3 , Wolfgang Ahrens  6 , Maren Albrecht  7   8 , Fabian Bamberg  9 , Till Bärnighausen  10 , Heiko Becher  11 , Klaus Berger  12 , Achim Beule  13   14 , Heiner Boeing  15 , Barbara Bohn  7 , Kerstin Bohnert  7 , Bettina Braun  12 , Hermann Brenner  5 , Robin Bülow  16 , Stefanie Castell  17 , Antje Damms-Machado  5 , Marcus Dörr  18 , Nina Ebert  19 , Margit Ecker  9 , Carina Emmel  20 , Beate Fischer  21 , Claus-Werner Franzke  22 , Sylvia Gastell  23 , Guido Giani  19 , Matthias Günther  24 , Kathrin Günther  6 , Klaus-Peter Günther  25 , Johannes Haerting  26 , Ulrike Haug  6 , Iris M Heid  27 , Margit Heier  3   28 , Diana Heinemeyer  7 , Thomas Hendel  3   29 , Florian Herbolsheimer  5 , Jochen Hirsch  24 , Wolfgang Hoffmann  30 , Bernd Holleczek  31 , Heike Hölling  32 , Andreas Hörlein  3 , Karl-Heinz Jöckel  20 , Rudolf Kaaks  5 , André Karch  12 , Stefan Karrasch  3   33 , Nadja Kartschmit  26 , Hans-Ulrich Kauczor  10 , Thomas Keil  34   35   36 , Yvonne Kemmling  17 , Bianca Klee  26 , Birgit Klüppelholz  19 , Alexander Kluttig  26 , Lisa Kofink  7 , Anna Köttgen  37 , Daniel Kraft  5 , Gérard Krause  17 , Lisa Kretz  9 , Lilian Krist  34 , Jan Kühnisch  38 , Oliver Kuß  19 , Nicole Legath  12 , Anna-Therese Lehnich  19 , Michael Leitzmann  21 , Wolfgang Lieb  39 , Jakob Linseisen  40   41   42 , Markus Loeffler  43 , Anke Macdonald  7 , Klaus H Maier-Hein  5   44 , Nina Mangold  4   45 , Claudia Meinke-Franze  30 , Christa Meisinger  4   41 , Juliane Melzer  5 , Björn Mergarten  7 , Karin B Michels  22 , Rafael Mikolajczyk  26 , Susanne Moebus  46 , Ulrich Mueller  47 , Matthias Nauck  48 , Thoralf Niendorf  49 , Konstantin Nikolaou  50 , Nadia Obi  11 , Stefan Ostrzinski  30 , Leo Panreck  7 , Iris Pigeot  6   51 , Tobias Pischon  52   53   54 , Irene Pschibul-Thamm  3   45 , Wolfgang Rathmann  19 , Achim Reineke  6 , Stefanie Roloff  55 , Dan Rujescu  56 , Stefan Rupf  57 , Oliver Sander  58 , Tamara Schikowski  59 , Sabine Schipf  30 , Peter Schirmacher  10 , Christopher L Schlett  9 , Börge Schmidt  20 , Georg Schmidt  60 , Martin Schmidt  5 , Gina Schöne  32 , Holger Schulz  3 , Matthias B Schulze  23   61 , Alexandra Schweig  62 , Anja M Sedlmeier  21 , Sonja Selder  29 , Julia Six-Merker  3 , Ramona Sowade  10 , Andreas Stang  20 , Oliver Stegle  5 , Karen Steindorf  5 , Gunthard Stübs  30 , Enno Swart  63 , Henning Teismann  12 , Inke Thiele  3 , Sigrid Thierry  3   45 , Marius Ueffing  64 , Henry Völzke  30 , Sabina Waniek  39 , Andrea Weber  21 , Nicole Werner  30 , H-Erich Wichmann  3 , Stefan N Willich  34 , Kerstin Wirkner  43 , Kathrin Wolf  3 , Robert Wolff  30 , Hajo Zeeb  6 , Melanie Zinkhan  65 , Johannes Zschocke  26   66
Affiliations

Framework and baseline examination of the German National Cohort (NAKO)

Annette Peters et al. Eur J Epidemiol. 2022 Oct.

Abstract

The German National Cohort (NAKO) is a multidisciplinary, population-based prospective cohort study that aims to investigate the causes of widespread diseases, identify risk factors and improve early detection and prevention of disease. Specifically, NAKO is designed to identify novel and better characterize established risk and protection factors for the development of cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases, musculoskeletal diseases, respiratory and infectious diseases in a random sample of the general population. Between 2014 and 2019, a total of 205,415 men and women aged 19-74 years were recruited and examined in 18 study centres in Germany. The baseline assessment included a face-to-face interview, self-administered questionnaires and a wide range of biomedical examinations. Biomaterials were collected from all participants including serum, EDTA plasma, buffy coats, RNA and erythrocytes, urine, saliva, nasal swabs and stool. In 56,971 participants, an intensified examination programme was implemented. Whole-body 3T magnetic resonance imaging was performed in 30,861 participants on dedicated scanners. NAKO collects follow-up information on incident diseases through a combination of active follow-up using self-report via written questionnaires at 2-3 year intervals and passive follow-up via record linkages. All study participants are invited for re-examinations at the study centres in 4-5 year intervals. Thereby, longitudinal information on changes in risk factor profiles and in vascular, cardiac, metabolic, neurocognitive, pulmonary and sensory function is collected. NAKO is a major resource for population-based epidemiology to identify new and tailored strategies for early detection, prediction, prevention and treatment of major diseases for the next 30 years.

Keywords: Communicable diseases; Epidemiology; Functional impairments; Life-style and socio-economic factors; Magnetic resonance imaging; Non-communicable diseases; Population-based cohort; Pre-clinical disease; Psychosocial factors.

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Conflict of interest statement

Fabian Bamberg: Speakers Bureau-Siemens Healthineers; Unrestricted Research Grants-Siemens Healthineers. Hans-Ulrich Kauczor: Speakers Bureau-Siemens, Philips, Sanofi, Boehringer Ingelheim, MSD; Grants-Siemens, Philips, Boehringer Ingelheim; Advisory Board: Median. Oliver Stegle: Insitro Inc-paid advisor. All other authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Study centres and infrastructures of the German National Cohort
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Age distribution of NAKO for men and women. N = 205,053 after excluding 362 participants who withdrew their consent until October 2019
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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