Cohort Profile: The Cohorts Consortium of Latin America and the Caribbean (CC-LAC).

Abstract

Why was the cohort set up? Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) are characterized by much diversity in terms of socio-economic status, ecology, environment, access to health care,1,2 as well as the frequency of risk factors for and prevalence or incidence of non-communicable diseases;3–7 importantly, these differences are observed both between and within countries in LAC.8,9 LAC countries share a large burden of non-communicable (e.g. diabetes and hypertension) and cardiovascular (e.g. ischaemic heart disease) diseases, with these conditions standing as the leading causes of morbidity, disability and mortality in most of LAC.10–12 These epidemiological estimates—e.g. morbidity—cannot inform about risk factors or risk prediction, which are relevant to identify prevention avenues. Cohort studies, on the other hand, could provide this evidence. Pooled analysis, using data from multiple cohort studies, have additional strengths such as increased statistical power and decreased statistical uncertainty.13 LAC cohort studies have been under-represented,14 or not included at all,15–17 in international efforts aimed at pooling data from multiple cohort studies. We therefore set out to pool data from LAC cohorts to address research questions that individual cohort studies would not be able to answer. Drawing from previous successful regional enterprises (e.g. Asia Pacific Cohort Studies Collaboration),18,19 we established the Cohorts Consortium of Latin America and the Caribbean (CC-LAC). The main aim of the CC-LAC is to start a collaborative cohort data pooling in LAC to examine the association between cardio-metabolic risk factors (e.g. blood pressure, glucose and lipids) and non-fatal and fatal cardiovascular outcomes (e.g. stroke or myocardial infarction). In so doing, we aim to provide regional risk estimates to inform disease burden metrics, as well as other ambitious projects including a cardiovascular risk score to strengthen cardiovascular prevention in LAC. Initial funding has been provided by a fellowship from the Wellcome Trust Centre for Global Health Research at Imperial College London (Strategic Award, Wellcome Trust–Imperial College Centre for Global Health Research, 100693/Z/12/Z). Additional funding is being provided by an International Training Fellowship from the Wellcome Trust (214185/Z/18/Z). At the time of writing, the daily operations and pooled database are hosted at Imperial College London, though a mid-term goal is to transfer this expertise and operations to LAC. The collaboration relies fundamentally on a strong regional network of health researchers and practitioners