Abstract preview

The Diet, Cancer and Health - Next Generations (DCH-NG) study is an extension of the existing Danish EPIC cohort. Biological children, their spouses and grandchildren of the original cohort members are invited. Using the unique personal identification number, 279,120 remnants of the original cohort members were identified. Of these, 189,833 fulfil the inclusion criteria: being alive, contactable and ≥18 years of age at time of invitation. Provided a participation of 25-30 %, about 50,000 participants are enrolled during 2015-2018. Participants are invited in family clusters, by postal letter, securing a familiar link.

Diet and lifestyle data, anthropometric and fitness measurements as well as DNA, serum, plasma, erythrocytes, spot urine, saliva and faeces samples are collected. For immediate use in research projects analysis of hemoglobin A1c, total, HDL and LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, high sensitive CRP and creatinine is performed. The physical examination includes measurements of waist and hip circumference, height, weight, body composition, blood pressure and pulse rate. In order to get a more objective measure of fitness an all-day activity tracker is implemented after baseline to be used by participants having a smartphone.

Participants sign up at the study homepage and get access to a personal web profile from where they book the physical examination and fill out web-based questionnaires. The original lifestyle and food frequency questionnaires have been further developed and modernised to make them as personalized and user-friendly as possible.

Two study centers are established in Copenhagen and Aarhus and in order to handle and integrate the large amount of data collected, a customized data-handling system has been developed. The DCH-NG cohort will constitute a unique resource for future trans-generational studies of the pathogenesis of multiple cancers and other non-communicable diseases.

Diet, Cancer And Health ñ Next Generations. A Family-Based Population Study