Progress of cohort studies in countries from Asia and Europe

Abstract

Objective: To share related knowledge and experiences with countries along the line, literature regarding current cohort studies was summarized. Distribution, establishment and development of cohort studies among large prospective general population were analyzed in 17 countries of Western Asia and the 16 countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Methods: Literature review was conducted to collect basic information on cohort studies, with descriptive study used to analyze the characteristics of these cohort studies. Results: There were 562 cohort studies with sample size as more than 1 000 stated in Western Asia and Central and Eastern Europe, including 468 (83.27%) carried out in the nation itself and 94 (16.73%) with international multicentered collaboration. According to the nature of cohort studies, 347 (61.74%) were etiologically based. As for the contents involved, 310 (55.16%) of them targeted on chronic/non-communicable diseases, 125 (22.24%) concentrated on maternal and child health. Among those on chronic/non-communicable diseases, 51 (16.45%) were on cancers and 83 (26.77%) on cardiovascular disease studies. There appeared 10 large prospective cohort studies targeting on general population, mainly ongoing in Iran and European countries, with a duration of 8-29 years, including 4 of them with sample size as more than 50 000. In terms of the contents, epidemiological investigation, physical examination and biological samples collection took the major parts. Few papers were published in 9 out of the 10 cohort studies at the early stage of those projects but the number of papers increased annually and stabilized to certain extent. Conclusions: The regional distribution of cohort studies carried out in countries from the Western Asia and Central and Eastern European areas appeared unbalanced. Contents of these designs would mainly involve etiological studies, with focus on non-communicable diseases as cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, respiratory diseases, mental and psychological diseases, and maternal and infant health etc.. However, only few large prospective cohort studies would base on general population.