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The Consortium on Health and Ageing: Network of Cohorts in Europe and the United States (CHANCES) project—design, population and data harmonization of a large-scale, international study

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Abstract

There is a public health demand to prevent health conditions which lead to increased morbidity and mortality among the rapidly-increasing elderly population. Data for the incidence of such conditions exist in cohort studies worldwide, which, however, differ in various aspects. The Consortium on Health and Ageing: Network of Cohorts in Europe and the United States (CHANCES) project aims at harmonizing data from existing major longitudinal studies for the elderly whilst focussing on cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, cancer, fractures and cognitive impairment in order to estimate their prevalence, incidence and cause-specific mortality, and identify lifestyle, socioeconomic, and genetic determinants and biomarkers for the incidence of and mortality from these conditions. A survey instrument assessing ageing-related conditions of the elderly will be also developed. Fourteen cohort studies participate in CHANCES with 683,228 elderly (and 150,210 deaths), from 23 European and three non-European countries. So far, 287 variables on health conditions and a variety of exposures, including biomarkers and genetic data have been harmonized. Different research hypotheses are investigated with meta-analyses. The results which will be produced can help international organizations, governments and policy-makers to better understand the broader implications and consequences of ageing and thus make informed decisions.

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Acknowledgments

The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013) DG-RESEARCH under Grant Agreement No. HEALTH—F3-2010-242244.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hellenic Health Foundation, 13 Kaisareias and Alexandroupoleos Street, 115 27, Athens, Greece

    Paolo Boffetta, Dimitrios Trichopoulos, Christina Bamia & Antonia Trichopoulou

  2. Institute for Translational Epidemiology and Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA

    Paolo Boffetta

  3. Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, 1-19 Torrington Place, London, WC1E 6BT, UK

    Martin Bobak

  4. Munich Center for the Economics of Aging, Max-Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy, Munich, Germany

    Axel Borsch-Supan

  5. Division of Clinical Epidemiology and Aging Research, German Cancer Research Center, Im Neuenheimer Feld 581, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany

    Hermann Brenner

  6. Geriatric Medicine, Umeå University, 901 85, Umeå, Sweden

    Sture Eriksson

  7. Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    Fran Grodstein

  8. Centre for Health Protection, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, PO Box 1, 3720 BA, Bilthoven, The Netherlands

    Eugene Jansen

  9. International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC-WHO), Lyon, France

    Mazda Jenab

  10. Schumpeter School of Business and Economics, University of Wuppertal, Rainer-Gruenter-Str. 21 (FN), 42119, Wuppertal, Germany

    Hendrik Juerges

  11. Division of Human Nutrition, Wageningen University, PO Box 8129, 6700 EV, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Ellen Kampman

  12. UKCRC Centre of Excellence for Public Health (Northern Ireland), Institute of Clinical Sciences, Queens University, Grosvenor Road, Belfast, BT12 6BJ, Northern Ireland, UK

    Frank Kee

  13. Chronic Disease Epidemiology and Prevention Unit, National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), PO Box 30, 00271, Helsinki, Finland

    Kari Kuulasmaa

  14. Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, 9609 Medical Center Drive, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA

    Yikyung Park

  15. Danish Cancer Society Research Center, Strandboulevarden 49, 2100, Copenhagen Ø, Denmark

    Anne Tjonneland

  16. Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus University Medical Center, Dr. Molewaterplein 50, 3015 GE, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Cornelia van Duijn

  17. Department of Community Medicine, UIT The Arctic University of Norway, 9037, Tromsö, Norway

    Tom Wilsgaard

  18. Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

    Alicja Wolk

  19. Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115, USA

    Dimitrios Trichopoulos

  20. Bureau of Epidemiologic Research, Academy of Athens, Athens, Greece

    Dimitrios Trichopoulos

  21. Department of Hygiene, Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, University of Athens Medical School, 75 M. Asias Street, Goudi, 115 27, Athens, Greece

    Christina Bamia & Antonia Trichopoulou

Authors
  1. Paolo Boffetta
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  2. Martin Bobak
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  3. Axel Borsch-Supan
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  4. Hermann Brenner
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  5. Sture Eriksson
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  6. Fran Grodstein
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  7. Eugene Jansen
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  8. Mazda Jenab
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  9. Hendrik Juerges
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  10. Ellen Kampman
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  11. Frank Kee
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  12. Kari Kuulasmaa
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  13. Yikyung Park
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  14. Anne Tjonneland
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  15. Cornelia van Duijn
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  16. Tom Wilsgaard
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  17. Alicja Wolk
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  18. Dimitrios Trichopoulos
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  19. Christina Bamia
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  20. Antonia Trichopoulou
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Antonia Trichopoulou.

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Boffetta, P., Bobak, M., Borsch-Supan, A. et al. The Consortium on Health and Ageing: Network of Cohorts in Europe and the United States (CHANCES) project—design, population and data harmonization of a large-scale, international study. Eur J Epidemiol 29, 929–936 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-014-9977-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-014-9977-1

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