The Singapore Consortium of Cohort Studies (SCCS) is a long-term health study conducted by NUS and funded by the Biomedical Research Council of A*STAR. We aim to study how genes and lifestyle influence health and disease in Chinese, Malay and Indian Singaporeans. This study started in 2006 and plans to recruit a large number of participants from a wide age group, over the long term. In the first 5 years of the project, we plan to gain 22,000 participants in two groups by March 2011:
Multi-ethnic Cohort: 12,000 participants with no major illnesses Diabetic Cohort: 10,000 participants with diabetes type 2 (adult-onset diabetes)
We wish to study diseases like heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke and certain cancers. By doing this, we hope to discover ways to prevent common diseases and their complications, so that current and future generations will benefit from this study.
Common diseases of public health significance such as diabetes, cardio-vascular disorders, and most cancers are multi-factorial in origin, often involving complex gene-environment interactions. Cohort studies are valuable for studying such diseases because they enable measurements of environmental exposure as well as collection of biological specimens to be made prior to the onset of disease. Cohort studies also allow researchers to monitor numerous outcomes simultaneously. Furthermore, the information collected increases significantly in value with longer follow-up and repeated measures of exposure data.
What is the value of a consortium of such studies?
Through the zeal of individual researchers and organisations, there is a scattering of smaller cohort studies across Singapore. The power of these studies can be magnified greatly with a harmonisation of research protocols. A consortium of such studies also benefits from shared infrastructure for data privacy and workflow, and a dovetailing of manpower and IT resources.
Multi-ethnicity in SCCS
The multi-ethnic nature of SCCS is valuable as most large-scale long-term cohort studies so far - have been assembled in Caucasian populations. It allows cross-sectional research into how genes and environment interact to affect health and disease.
Singapore's multi-ethnic composition presents an additional advantage as our local cohorts can provide valuable comparisons between the three major ethnic groups. For example, despite smoking being 1.8 times more prevalent in Malay than Chinese males, lung cancer incidence in Chinese males is 1.5 times higher than that of their Malay counterparts. The risk of ischemic heart disease is 3 times higher in Indians than Chinese but their mean serum lipid profile is fairly similar. The reasons for such ethnic differences remain unclear but it is possible that undetected gene-gene or gene-environment interactions are present. Adequate numbers of participants in each ethnic group are critical to provide the statistical power required to explore these interactions.
Aims in the long term
In the long run and in partnership with the community, SCCS aims to help us stay healthier longer through improved preventive and therapeutic measures, as well as provide information to advance public health and health education policies for Asian populations.
SCCS samples are processed, archived and managed for distribution logistics by:
the Singapore Tissue Network, the national non-profit tissue and DNA bank funded by A*STAR for supporting biomedical research. Singapore Tissue Network (STN)
Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore
SCCS participants' data privacy is safeguarded by the Data Privacy Office: Data Privacy Office (DPO)
Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore
The Data Privacy Office provides independent IT-based management of confidential data from SCCS participants and Singapore Tissue Network (STN). It facilitates
the de-identification and re-identification of research participants' information in a manner that allows for electronic record linkages with external agencies for research purposes, whilst ensuring that participants' privacy is protected.
