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The Chinese keratoconus (CKC) cohort study

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Abstract

The Chinese keratoconus (CKC) cohort study is a population-based longitudinal prospective cohort study in the Chinese population involving a clinical database and biobanks. This ongoing study focuses on the prevention of KC progression and is the first to involve the effect of gene‒environment interactions on KC progression. The CKC cohort is hospital-based and dynamic and was established in Zhengzhou, China; KC patients (n = 1114) from a large geographical area were enrolled from January 2019 to June 2023, with a mean age of 22.23 years (6‒57 years). Demographic details, socioeconomic characteristics, lifestyle, disease history, surgical history, family history, and visual and social function data are being collected using questionnaires. General physical examination, eye examination, biological specimen collection, and first-degree relative data were collected and analyzed in the present study. The primary focus of the present study was placed on gene, environment and the effect of gene‒environment interactions on KC progression. The follow-up of the CKC cohort study is expected to include data collection at 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year after the initial examination and then at the annual follow-up examinations. The first follow-up of the CKC cohort study was recorded. A total of 918 patients completed the follow-up by June 1, 2023, with a response rate of 82.40%. Aside from the younger age of patients who were followed up, no significant differences were found between patients who were followed up and patients who were not.

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Acknowledgements

All relevant data are included in the paper and its Supporting Information files. Contact Dr. Shengwei Ren (shengweiren1984@163.com and ysgzz2018@163.com) for additional information. The authors would like to thank all the participants of this study.

Funding

This research was supported by the General project of Natural Science Foundation of Henan Province (No. 222300420536), Henan Provincial Medical Science Building Key Program (No. SBGJ202002028, SBGJ202102051, SBGJ202303043), Henan Provincial Medical Science and Technology Joint Program (No. LHGJ20210080), Henan Young Health Science and Technology Innovation Outstanding Program (No. YXKC2020023). The funders had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

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Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

Concept and design: Shengwei Ren. Acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data: Shengwei Ren, Kaili Yang, Xiaotian Liu, Liyan Xu, Yuwei Gu, Qi Fan, Yonghao Zang, Chenchen Yin, Chenjiu Pang. Drafting of the manuscript: Shengwei Ren, Kaili Yang. Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: All authors. Statistical analysis: Kaili Yang, Liyan Xu, Shanshan Yin. Obtained funding: Shengwei Ren, Kaili Yang, Liyan Xu. Administrative, technical, or material support: Xiaotian Liu, Yi Yuan, Liyan Xu, Yifan Wang, Anqi Chang, Chenjiu Pang, Chongjian Wang. Supervision: Shengwei Ren, Kaili Yang.

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Correspondence to Shengwei Ren.

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Supplementary Material 1

: Supplemental Fig. 1. Geographic location of the CKC cohort study.

Supplementary Material 2

: Supplemental Fig. 2. KC severity and treatments in the CKC cohort study. (A) KC severity; (B) KC treatments.

Supplementary Material 3

: Supplemental Fig. 3. Violin plot showing the distributions of BMI, SBP, DBP, and HR. (A) BMI, body mass index; (B) HR, heart rate; (C) SBP, systolic blood pressure; (D) DBP, diastolic blood pressure.

Supplementary Material 4

: Supplemental Table 1. Pervious study related to the epidemiology of KC. Supplemental Table 2. The recruitment process and data collection of family members. Supplemental Table 3. Overview of published and accepted papers based on the CKC cohort data. Supplemental Table 4. Baseline data of corneal basic, corneal tomography and corneal biomechanical parameters in KC eyes.

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Yang, K., Liu, X., Xu, L. et al. The Chinese keratoconus (CKC) cohort study. Eur J Epidemiol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-024-01128-2

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