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. 2020 Feb;35(2):169-181.
doi: 10.1007/s10654-019-00577-4. Epub 2019 Nov 8.

Rationale and Design of the Hamburg City Health Study

Annika Jagodzinski  1   2   3 Christoffer Johansen  4   5   6   7 Uwe Koch-Gromus  8 Ghazal Aarabi  9 Gerhard Adam  10 Sven Anders  11 Matthias Augustin  12 Ramona B der Kellen  4 Thomas Beikler  13 Christian-Alexander Behrendt  14 Christian S Betz  15 Carsten Bokemeyer  16 Katrin Borof  4 Peer Briken  17 Chia-Jung Busch  15 Christian Büchel  18 Stefanie Brassen  18 Eike S Debus  14 Larissa Eggers  4 Jens Fiehler  19 Jürgen Gallinat  20 Simone Gellißen  19 Christian Gerloff  21 Evaldas Girdauskas  22 Martin Gosau  23 Markus Graefen  24 Martin Härter  25 Volker Harth  26 Christoph Heidemann  4 Guido Heydecke  9 Tobias B Huber  27 Yassin Hussein  4 Marvin O Kampf  4 Olaf von dem Knesebeck  28 Alexander Konnopka  29 Hans-Helmut König  29 Robert Kromer  30 Christian Kubisch  31 Simone Kühn  20 Sonja Loges  16   32 Bernd Löwe  33 Gunnar Lund  10 Christian Meyer  34   35 Lina Nagel  4 Albert Nienhaus  36 Klaus Pantel  32 Elina Petersen  4 Klaus Püschel  11 Hermann Reichenspurner  22 Guido Sauter  37 Martin Scherer  38 Katharina Scherschel  34   35 Ulrich Schiffner  13 Renate B Schnabel  39   34 Holger Schulz  25 Ralf Smeets  23 Vladislavs Sokalskis  4 Martin S Spitzer  30 Claudia Terschüren  26 Imke Thederan  24 Tom Thoma  4 Götz Thomalla  21 Benjamin Waschki  39   34   40 Karl Wegscheider  7 Jan-Per Wenzel  39   4 Susanne Wiese  4 Birgit-Christiane Zyriax  34   41 Tanja Zeller  39   34   4 Stefan Blankenberg  39   34
Affiliations

Rationale and Design of the Hamburg City Health Study

Annika Jagodzinski et al. Eur J Epidemiol. 2020 Feb.

Abstract

The Hamburg City Health Study (HCHS) is a large, prospective, long-term, population-based cohort study and a unique research platform and network to obtain substantial knowledge about several important risk and prognostic factors in major chronic diseases. A random sample of 45,000 participants between 45 and 74 years of age from the general population of Hamburg, Germany, are taking part in an extensive baseline assessment at one dedicated study center. Participants undergo 13 validated and 5 novel examinations primarily targeting major organ system function and structures including extensive imaging examinations. The protocol includes validate self-reports via questionnaires regarding lifestyle and environmental conditions, dietary habits, physical condition and activity, sexual dysfunction, professional life, psychosocial context and burden, quality of life, digital media use, occupational, medical and family history as well as healthcare utilization. The assessment is completed by genomic and proteomic characterization. Beyond the identification of classical risk factors for major chronic diseases and survivorship, the core intention is to gather valid prevalence and incidence, and to develop complex models predicting health outcomes based on a multitude of examination data, imaging, biomarker, psychosocial and behavioral assessments. Participants at risk for coronary artery disease, atrial fibrillation, heart failure, stroke and dementia are invited for a visit to conduct an additional MRI examination of either heart or brain. Endpoint assessment of the overall sample will be completed through repeated follow-up examinations and surveys as well as related individual routine data from involved health and pension insurances. The study is targeting the complex relationship between biologic and psychosocial risk and resilience factors, chronic disease, health care use, survivorship and health as well as favorable and bad prognosis within a unique, large-scale long-term assessment with the perspective of further examinations after 6 years in a representative European metropolitan population.

Keywords: Brain MRI; Cancer; Cardiac MRI; Coronary heart disease; Dementia; Epidemiology; Hamburg; Health care; Health service research; Lifestyle; MRI imaging; Nutrition; Obesity; Ocular diseases; Oral health; Prevention; Prospective cohort study; Psychiatric and psychosomatic disorders; Resilience; Respiratory diseases; Risk factors; Sexual dysfunction; Stroke; Survivorship; Vascular diseases.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ghazal Aarabi: Has received project related funding by the DFG. Gerhard Adam: Nothing to disclose. Sven Anders: received research funding from German Ministry of Science and Education (BMBF) and Rickertsen Foundation. Matthias Augustin: Nothing to disclose. Ramona Bei der Kellen: Nothing to disclose. Thomas Beikler: Nothing to disclose. Christian-Alexander Behrendt: has received research funding from the German Federal Joint Committee (Grant No. 01VSF16008 and 01VSF18035). Christian S. Betz: Nothing to disclose relating to HCHS. Carsten Bokemeyer: Nothing to disclose. Katrin Borof: Nothing to disclose. Peer Briken: Nothing to disclose. Chia-Jung Busch: Has received project related funding by the DKFZ. Christian Büchel: Nothing to disclose. Stefanie Brassen: Nothing to disclose. Sebastian Debus received institutional Grants from COOK, Vascutek and Bayer. He has also received honoraria as member of Bayer Advisory boards. Larissa Eggers: Nothing to disclose. Jens Fiehler: received research funding from German Ministry of Science and Education (BMBF), German Ministry of Economy and Innovation (BMWi), German Research Foundation (DFG), European Union (EU), Hamburgische Investitions- und Förderbank (IFB), Medtronic, Microvention, Philips, Stryker; received honoraria as consultant or speaker for Acandis, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cerenovus, Covidien, Evasc Neurovascular, MD Clinicals, Medtronic, Medina, Microvention, Penumbra, Route92, Stryker, Transverse Medical. Jürgen Gallinat: has received research funding from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, German Science Foundation, and speaker fees from Lundbeck, Janssen-Cilag, Lilly and Otsuka. Christian Gerloff: received funding from German Research Council (DFG), European Union, Federal Ministery of Education and Research (BMBF), German Statutory Pension Insurance Scheme (RV Nord), National Innovation Fond, Wegener Foundation, and Schilling Foundation; received honoraria as speaker or consultant from Abbott, Amgen, Bayer Vital, Bristol-Myers-Squibb, Boehringer Ingelheim, Sanofi Aventis, and Prediction Biosciences. Evaldas Girdauskas: Nothing to disclose. Martin Gosau: Nothing to disclose. Uwe Koch- Gromus: Nothing to disclose. Markus Graefen: Nothing to disclose. Martin Härter: received funding from the Federal Ministery of Education and Research (BMBF) for the project PERGOLA. Volker Harth: received funding from European Union, Federal Ministery of Education and Research (BMBF), Federal Ministery of Health (BMG), and Deutsche Gesetzliche Unfallversicherung (DGUV). Christoph Heidemann: Nothing to disclose. Guido Heydecke: Nothing to disclose. Tobias Huber: Nothing to disclose relating to HCHS. Yassin Hussein: Nothing to disclose. Annika Jagodzinski: Has received project related funding by Amgen and an unrestricted Grant by Bayer. Christoffer Johansen: Nothing to disclose. Marvin O. Kampf: Nothing to disclose. Olaf von dem Knesebeck: Nothing to disclose. Alexander Konnopka: Nothing to disclose. Hans-Helmut König: Nothing to disclose. Robert Kromer: received funding from the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, European Union, Santen and StullnPharma; received honoraria as speaker from Bayer, Novartis, Santen and Topcon. Christian Kubisch: Nothing to disclose. Simone Kühn: has been funded by the German Science Foundation, the European Union (ERC-2016-StG-Self-Control-677804) and a Fellowship from the Jacobs Foundation. Sonja Loges: Nothing to disclose with regards to this publication. Bernd Löwe: Nothing to disclose. Gunnar Lund: Nothing to disclose. Christian Meyer: is supported by the German Center for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK, 81Z0710112). Lina Nagel: Nothing to disclose Albert Nienhaus: Received funds from the German Ministry of Health (BMG), the European Union Social Dialog Fund, Institution for Statutory Accident Insurance and Prevention in the Health and Welfare Services, and ZEIT-Stiftung. Klaus Pantel: Nothing to disclose. Elina Petersen: Nothing to disclose. Klaus Püschel: Nothing to disclose. Hermann Reichenspurner: received honoraria as consultant for Abiomed und Medtronic. Guido Sauter: Nothing to disclose. Martin Scherer: Nothing to disclose. Katharina Scherschel: is supported by the German Center for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK, 81Z0710112). Ulrich Schiffner: has received honoraria for lectures from 3 M, CP Gaba, and DMG. Renate Schnabel: has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant Agreement No 648131), German Ministry of Research and Education (BMBF 01ZX1408A) and German Center for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK e.V.) (81Z1710103). Holger Schulz: Nothing to disclose. Ralf Smeets: Nothing to disclose. Vladislavs Sokalskis: Nothing to disclose. Martin S. Spitzer has received research funding from Novartis, Clanotech, Croma Pharma Topcon and Flouron. He received honoraria for lectures from Novartis, Bayer, Alcon, Allergan, Alimera Sciences and for consulting from Bayer, SHS and Altacor. Claudia Terschüren: received funding from Deutsche Gesetzliche Unfallversicherung (DGUV). Imke Thederan: Nothing to disclose. Götz Thomalla: received funding from the German Research Council (DFG), European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi), Germany’s Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) Innovation Fund (Innovationsfonds), and has received honoraria as speaker or consultant from Acandis, Bayer Vital, Bristol-Myers-Squibb/Pfizer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Daiichi Sankyo and Stryker. Benjamin Waschki: Nothing to disclose. Karl Wegscheider: Nothing to disclose. Jan-Per Wenzel: Nothing to disclose. Susanne Wiese: Nothing to disclose. Birgit-Christiane Zyriax: has received project related funding by BASF, Unilever and DIFE. Tanja Zeller: is supported by the German Center for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK, 81Z0710102). This project has received funding from the European Union´s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No. 825903, the Innovative medicine initiative (IMI) under Grant No. 116074 and the Fondation Leducq under Grant Number 16 CVD 03. Stefan Blankenberg: is supported by the Innovative medicine initiative (IMI) under Grant No. 116074, the Fondation Leducq under Grant Number 16 CVD 03, Siemens, Bayer, Astra Zeneca, Deutsche Gesetzliche Unfallversicherung (DGUV) and Novartis for project related analyses.

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Summary of aims and uniqueness: the Hamburg City Health Study

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