Health Protection Directorate, Federal Office of Public Health, Bern, Switzerland.
General Direction, Center for Primary Care and Public Health, Unisanté, Lausanne, Switzerland.
PLoS One. 2023 Jul 31;18(7):e0289181. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0289181. eCollection 2023.
A large-scale national cohort aiming at investigating the health status and determinants in the general population is essential for high-quality public health research and regulatory decision-making. We present the protocol and first results of the pilot phase to a Swiss national cohort aiming at establishing the study procedures, evaluating feasibility, and assessing participation and willingness to participate.
The pilot phase 2020/21 included 3 components recruited via different channels: a population-based cross-sectional study targeting the adult population (20-69 years) of the Vaud and Bern cantons via personal invitation, a sub-study on selenium in a convenience sample of vegans and vegetarians via non-personal invitation in vegan/vegetarian networks, and a self-selected sample via news promotion (restricted protocol). Along with a participatory approach and participation, we tested the study procedures including online questionnaires, onsite health examination, food intake, physical activity assessments and biosample collection following high-quality standards.
The population-based study and the selenium sub-study had 638 (participation rate: 14%) and 109 participants, respectively, both with an over-representation of women. Of altogether 1349 recruited participants over 90% expressed interest in participating to a national health study, over 75% to contribute to medicine progress and help improving others' health, whereas about one third expressed concerns over data protection and data misuse.
Publicly accessible high-quality public health data and human biomonitoring samples were collected. There is high interest of the general population in taking part in a national cohort on health. Challenges reside in achieving a higher participation rate and external validity. For project management clear governance is key.
开展大规模的全国性队列研究对于高质量的公共卫生研究和监管决策至关重要，目的是调查一般人群的健康状况和决定因素。我们介绍了一项瑞士全国性队列研究的试点阶段的方案和初步结果，旨在建立研究程序、评估可行性，并评估参与度和参与意愿。
2020/21 年的试点阶段包括通过不同渠道招募的 3 个部分：一项针对沃州和伯尔尼州成年人群（20-69 岁）的基于人群的横断面研究，通过个人邀请；一项在素食者网络中通过非个人邀请的素食者和纯素食者便利样本中的硒子研究；以及通过新闻宣传的自我选择样本（受限方案）。除了参与方法外，我们还测试了研究程序，包括遵循高质量标准的在线问卷、现场健康检查、饮食摄入、身体活动评估和生物样本采集。
基于人群的研究和硒子研究分别有 638 名（参与率：14%）和 109 名参与者，两者均以女性参与者居多。在总共招募的 1349 名参与者中，超过 90%的人表示有兴趣参加一项全国性的健康研究，超过 75%的人表示愿意为医学进步做出贡献，帮助改善他人的健康，而约三分之一的人对数据保护和数据滥用表示担忧。
公开获取的高质量公共卫生数据和人体生物监测样本已被收集。一般人群对参加全国性的健康队列研究表现出浓厚的兴趣。面临的挑战是提高参与率和外部有效性。对于项目管理，明确的治理是关键。
