Abstract
Although the etiologies of cardiovascular disease (CVD) are widely understood, the goal of finding a globally effective solution for preventing CVD is unrealistic. Therefore, we aimed to conduct a community-based prospective study on the prevention and management of CVD in Korean adults. This study was designed to recruit 8,000 healthy adults over the course of 5 years. The baseline assessment includes a wide range of established CVD risk factors, including demographic characteristics, medical history, health behaviors, psychological conditions, body size and composition, blood pressure, the augmentation index, carotid ultrasonography, an electrocardiogram, and biochemical indicators, as well as some novel factors, such as social network characteristics, exposure to environmental pollutants, inflammatory markers, hemostatic markers, and immunosenescence markers. Annual telephone interviews and follow-up health examinations at 5-year intervals after the baseline assessment are planned to collect information on changes in health status and its determinants. Additionally, indirect follow-up using secondary data sources will be conducted to obtain information on health services utilization and death. So far, more than 6,000 adults have been enrolled during the first three and a half years, and almost all participants have been tracked by annual telephone follow-up surveys. The data have been uploaded to iCReaT, the clinical research information management system of the Korea National Institute of Health.
Highlights
The prevalence of obesity and diabetes has consistently increased among Koreans [4]
cardiovascular disease (CVD) is preventable with the management of health-related behaviors and the treatment of existing risk factors
It is known that the distributions of traditional risk factors, including smoking, diabetes, hypertension, diet, exercise, and alcohol drinking, as well as genetic traits, their impact on disease development, and disease frequencies vary by region, race, culture, and environment [7]
Summary
The ultimate goals of the CMERC study are to identify novel risk factors and biomarkers for CVD, to measure the contribution of known CVD risk factors to the disease, to develop improv ed CVD prediction tools for the Korean population, and to produce evidence regarding the preventive treatment of CVD. The study findings will improve our ability to identify highrisk individuals who merit earlier intervention, to develop evidencebased preventive strategies, and to reduce the socioeconomic burden of CVD and metabolic diseases. To achieve these goals, the CMERC designed 2 prospective cohorts: a general-population cohort (the CMERC cohort) and a cohort of high-risk patients (the CMERC-HI cohort)
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