1. What is the Singapore Consortium of Cohort Studies (SCCS)?
In a nutshell, it is a long-term health study which aims to discover ways to prevent common disease and their complications. The project is described in more detail in the section About Us.
2. Who can take part in SCCS?
Participants are:
Between 21 – 75 years of age
Singaporean / Permanent Resident
Of either gender
And have no history of cancer, stroke, heart disease, mental illness and renal failure.
3. Why participate in SCCS?
It gives you a chance to do good for community and nation.
By playing a part in this study, you make possible – medical discoveries to improve the well-being of yourselves, your children and Singaporeans in the long run. The findings from this study will also benefit people from the region and around the world.
Receive regular updates on the progress of the project and results
No drugs are involved
No cost to participants
A chance to take part in future health studies
Participants’ information is kept confidential and strictly used for research purposes only. The Straits Times reported on its front page on 8 May 2007 that new privacy laws will be enacted to protect data of research participants in Singapore, as has already been done in Japan and Europe. This is in response to recommendations by the Bioethics Advisory Committee’s report on “Personal Information in Biomedical Research released on 7 May 2007.
You may also be interested to hear that from focus group discussions conducted by NUS in mid-2006, study participants cited the following reasons for joining this study:
It felt good to be contributing to an effort which would benefit the health of their children, grandchildren and generations to come
Improving their own health through raised awareness about how to lead a healthy lifestyle, via the content of the questionnaires, conversation with the interviewer and health-screening
Your participation will help researchers find new ways to prevent, treat and cure diseases. Its results will be used to improve public health and education policies.
4. How can I join SCCS?
Call our Hotline telephone numbers indicated above, or email us at
sccs@nus.edu.sg
with your details. Thank you.
5. I received your invitation by post. How did you get my name and address?
As a consortium of smaller and existing cohort studies, we have inherited the lists of names and addresses from these smaller health studies. These lists consist of random names and addresses of Singaporeans and Permanent Residents of Singapore.
In the future, we will continue to use "inherited" name lists from new cohort studies that join our consortium.
It is also possible that we may gain new participants:
a) Through relations of existing participants
b) From looking up the phonebook for Chinese, Malay and Indian names
c) Via lists from governmental agencies
and these procedures will have to gain the approval of the NUS Institutional Review Board (Research Ethics Committee) which is tasked to protect the rights and welfare of research participants.
6. What is the duration of this study?
SCCS runs from January 2006 - March 2011 and will recruit 22,000 participants in this initial phase of the project. The plan is to eventually recruit a much larger cohort of Singaporeans over the next 10-20 years and maybe even longer. One thing is certain, if SCCS is successful like the Framingham Heart Study, which started in the U.S. in 1948, that is now inviting the grandchildren of it's original participants, SCCS may run for generations - for the benefit of Singaporeans, people from the region and worldwide.
7. How do I give my consent to participate in this study?
More of your questions answered in detail in the “Participation Information Sheet” behind these buttons.
Please click on the cohort study you have taken part in.
SCCS Multi-ethnic Cohort
Email SCCS
