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EPIC-Heart: The cardiovascular component of a prospective study of nutritional, lifestyle and biological factors in 520,000 middle-aged participants from 10 European countries

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Abstract

EPIC-Heart is the cardiovascular component of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC), a multi-centre prospective cohort study investigating the relationship between nutrition and major chronic disease outcomes. Its objective is to advance understanding about the separate and combined influences of lifestyle (especially dietary), environmental, metabolic and genetic factors in the development of cardiovascular diseases by making best possible use of the unusually informative database and biological samples in EPIC. Between 1992 and 2000, 519,978 participants (366,521 women and 153,457 men, mostly aged 35–70 years) in 23 centres in 10 European countries commenced follow-up for cause-specific mortality, cancer incidence and major cardiovascular morbidity. Dietary information was collected with quantitative questionnaires or semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaires, including a 24-h dietary recall sub-study to help calibrate the dietary measurements. Information was collected on physical activity, tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption, occupational history, socio-economic status, and history of previous illnesses. Anthropometric measurements and blood pressure recordings were made in the majority of participants. Blood samples were taken from 385,747 individuals, from which plasma, serum, red cells, and buffy coat fractions were separated and aliquoted for long-term storage. By 2004, an estimated 10,000 incident fatal and non-fatal coronary and stroke events had been recorded. The first cycle of EPIC-Heart analyses will assess associations of coronary mortality with several prominent dietary hypotheses and with established cardiovascular risk factors. Subsequent analyses will extend this approach to non-fatal cardiovascular outcomes␣and to further dietary, biochemical and genetic factors.

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Acknowledgements

The following individuals have also contributed to EPIC-Heart: Aurelio Barricarte, Franco Berrino, J.␣Beulens, Paolo Boffetta, Hendriek Boshuizen, Michiel Bots, M.D. Chirlaque, Miren Dorronsoro, Bo Hedblad, Emmanuelle Kesse, Kerstin Klipstein-Grobusch, Jonas Manjer, Carmen Martinez, Domenico Palli, Petra Peeters, Fernando Rodriguez Artalejo, Joan Sabaté, Manj Sandhu, Nadeem Sarwar, M.J.␣Tormo, Ruth Travis, Hans Verhagen and Paolo Vineis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. EPIC-Heart Secretariat, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Strangeways Research Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Worts Causeway, Cambridge, CB1 8RN, UK

    John Danesh

  2. International Agency for Research on Cancer — WHO, Lyon, France

    Rodolfo Saracci, Pietro Ferrari & Nadia Slimani

  3. Department of Clinical Sciences, Malmö, University of Lund, Lund, Sweden

    Göran Berglund & Olle Melander

  4. Division of Human Nutrition, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Edith Feskens

  5. Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Aalborg Hospital, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark

    Kim Overvad, Søren Paaske Johnsen & Majken Karoline Jensen

  6. Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Federico II University, Naples, Italy

    Salvatore Panico & Amalia Mattiello

  7. MRC Biostatistics Unit, Institute of Public Health, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Simon Thompson

  8. Inserm ERI20, Institut Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France

    Agnès Fournier & Françoise Clavel-Chapelon

  9. Inserm U780, Villejuif, France

    Marianne Canonico

  10. Division of Clinical Epidemiology, German Cancer Research Centre, Heidelberg, Germany

    Rudolf Kaaks & Jakob Linseisen

  11. Department of Epidemiology, German Institute of Human Nutrition, Potsdam-Rehbrücke, Germany

    Heiner Boeing, Tobias Pischon & Cornelia Weikert

  12. Institute of Cancer Epidemiology, Danish Cancer Society, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Anja Olsen & Anne Tjønneland

  13. Public Health and Planning Directorate, Asturias, Spain

    Jose R. Quirós

  14. Department of Epidemiology and Cancer Registry, Catalan Institute of Oncology, Barcelona, Spain

    Carlos Alberto Gonzalez Svatetz

  15. The Andalusian School of Public Health, Granada, Spain

    Maria-José Sánchez Pérez

  16. Public Health Department of Gipuzcoa, San Sebastian, Spain

    Nerea Larrañaga

  17. Department of Epidemiology, Murcia Health Council, Murcia, Spain

    Carmen Navarro Sanchez

  18. Public Health Institute of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain

    Concepción Moreno Iribas

  19. MRC Centre for Nutritional Epidemiology in Cancer Prevention and Survival, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Sheila Bingham

  20. Clinical Gerontology Unit, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Kay-Tee Khaw

  21. MRC Epidemiology Unit, Cambridge, UK

    Nick Wareham

  22. Cancer Research UK Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Timothy Key & Andrew Roddam

  23. Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, University of Athens Medical School, Athens, Greece

    Antonia Trichopoulou, Vassiliki Benetou & Dimitrios Trichopoulos

  24. Molecular and Nutritional Epidemiology Unit, CSPO, Scientific Institute of Tuscany, Florence, Italy

    Giovanna Masala

  25. Nutritional Epidemiology Unit, Italian National Cancer Institute, Milan, Italy

    Sabina Sieri

  26. Cancer Registry, Azienda Ospedaliera “Civile M.P. Arezzo”, Ragusa, Italy

    Rosario Tumino

  27. Department of Biomedical Science and Human Oncology, CPO-Piemonte, Torino, Italy

    Carlotta Sacerdote

  28. Centre for Prevention and health Services Research, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, The Netherlands

    W. M. Monique Verschuren

  29. Centre for Nutrition and Health, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, The Netherlands

    H. Bas Bueno-de-Mesquita

  30. Julius Centre for Health Sciences and Primary care, University Medical Centre Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Diederick E. Grobbee & Yvonne T. van der Schouw

  31. Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Nutrition Research, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden

    Göran Hallmans

  32. Department of Medicine, Skellefteå Hospital, Skellefteå, Sweden

    Patrik Wennberg

  33. Institute of Community Medicine, University of Tromsø, Tromsø, Norway

    Eiliv Lund, Merethe Kumle & Guri Skeie

  34. Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK

    Teresa Norat & Elio Riboli

Authors
  1. John Danesh
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  2. Rodolfo Saracci
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  3. Göran Berglund
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  4. Edith Feskens
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  5. Kim Overvad
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  6. Salvatore Panico
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  10. Marianne Canonico
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  15. Cornelia Weikert
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  21. Carlos Alberto Gonzalez Svatetz
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  22. Maria-José Sánchez Pérez
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  23. Nerea Larrañaga
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  25. Concepción Moreno Iribas
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  33. Dimitrios Trichopoulos
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  34. Giovanna Masala
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  35. Sabina Sieri
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  36. Rosario Tumino
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  37. Carlotta Sacerdote
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  38. Amalia Mattiello
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  39. W. M. Monique Verschuren
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  40. H. Bas Bueno-de-Mesquita
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  41. Diederick E. Grobbee
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  42. Yvonne T. van der Schouw
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  43. Olle Melander
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  44. Göran Hallmans
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  45. Patrik Wennberg
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  46. Eiliv Lund
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  47. Merethe Kumle
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  48. Guri Skeie
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  49. Pietro Ferrari
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  50. Nadia Slimani
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  51. Teresa Norat
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  52. Elio Riboli
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to John Danesh.

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Danesh, J., Saracci, R., Berglund, G. et al. EPIC-Heart: The cardiovascular component of a prospective study of nutritional, lifestyle and biological factors in 520,000 middle-aged participants from 10 European countries. Eur J Epidemiol 22, 129–141 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-006-9096-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-006-9096-8

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