Rationale for a Swedish cohort consortium

Johan  Sundström; Cecilia  Björkelund; Vilmantas  Giedraitis; Per-Olof  Hansson; Marieann  Högman; Christer  Janson; Ilona  Koupil; Margareta  Kristenson; Ylva  Trolle Lagerros; Jerzy  Leppert; Lars  Lind; Lauren  Lissner; Ingegerd  Johansson; Jonas F.  Ludvigsson; Peter M.  Nilsson; Håkan  Olsson; Nancy L.  Pedersen; Andreas  Rosenblad; Annika  Rosengren; Sven  Sandin; Tomas  Snäckerström; Magnus  Stenbeck; Stefan  Söderberg; Elisabete  Weiderpass; Anders  Wanhainen; Patrik  Wennberg; Isabel  Fortier; Susanne  Heller; Maria  Storgärds; Bodil  Svennblad

doi:10.1080/03009734.2018.1556754

Authors

Johan Sundström Department of Medical Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden; Uppsala Clinical Research Center (UCR), Uppsala, Sweden http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2247-8454
Cecilia Björkelund Department of Public Health and Community Medicine/Primary Health Care, Institute of Medicine, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
Vilmantas Giedraitis Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
Per-Olof Hansson Department of Molecular and Clinical Medicine, Institute of Medicine, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
Marieann Högman Department of Medical Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6392-6092
Christer Janson Department of Medical Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
Ilona Koupil Department of Public Health Sciences, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden; Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
Margareta Kristenson Department of Medical and Health Sciences, Division of Community Medicine, Link€oping University, Linköping, Sweden
Ylva Trolle Lagerros Department of Medicine, Unit of Clinical Epidemiology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Department of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes, Karolinska University Hospital Huddinge, Huddinge, Sweden
Jerzy Leppert Västerås Centre for Clinical Research, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
Lars Lind Department of Medical Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
Lauren Lissner Department of Public Health and Community Medicine/Epidemiology and Social Medicine, Institute of Medicine, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
Ingegerd Johansson Department of Odontology, School of Dentistry, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden; nDepartment of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
Jonas F. Ludvigsson Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Department of Pediatrics, Örebro University Hospital, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden
Peter M. Nilsson Department of Clinical Sciences, Skåne University Hospital, Malmö, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
Håkan Olsson Department of Clinical Sciences, Cancer Epidemiology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8794-9635
Nancy L. Pedersen Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8057-3543
Andreas Rosenblad Västerås Centre for Clinical Research, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
Annika Rosengren Department of Molecular and Clinical Medicine, Institute of Medicine, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
Sven Sandin Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA; Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
Tomas Snäckerström Uppsala Clinical Research Center (UCR), Uppsala, Sweden
Magnus Stenbeck Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
Stefan Söderberg Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, and Heart Center, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
Elisabete Weiderpass Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Department of Research, Cancer Registry of Norway, Institute of Population-Based Cancer Research, Oslo, Norway; Genetic Epidemiology Group, Folkhälsan Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, Helsinki University, Helsinki, Finland; Department of Community Medicine, University of Tromsø, The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2237-0128
Anders Wanhainen Department of Surgical Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
Patrik Wennberg Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Family Medicine, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
Isabel Fortier Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Canada
Susanne Heller Uppsala Clinical Research Center (UCR), Uppsala, Sweden
Maria Storgärds Uppsala Clinical Research Center (UCR), Uppsala, Sweden
Bodil Svennblad Uppsala Clinical Research Center (UCR), Uppsala, Sweden

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1080/03009734.2018.1556754

Keywords:

Common infrastructure, epidemiological research, pilot study, rare outcomes, Swedish cohort consortium

Abstract

We herein outline the rationale for a Swedish cohort consortium, aiming to facilitate greater use of Swedish cohorts for world-class research. Coordination of all Swedish prospective population-based cohorts in a common infrastructure would enable more precise research findings and facilitate research on rare exposures and outcomes, leading to better utilization of study participants’ data, better return of funders’ investments, and higher benefit to patients and populations. We motivate the proposed infrastructure partly by lessons learned from a pilot study encompassing data from 21 cohorts. We envisage a standing Swedish cohort consortium that would drive development of epidemiological research methods and strengthen the Swedish as well as international epidemiological competence, community, and competitiveness.