The EPIC study in the Netherlands is based in two research centres: Bilthoven and Utrecht. The populations in the two cohorts have been recruited from the general population (Bilthoven) and from among women attending the national breast cancer screening programme (Utrecht). Recruitment was carried out in 1993–1997.
In 2006–2007, the two Dutch cohorts were merged into one cohort (the EPIC-NL study) to gain efficiency and sample size and to optimize the use of the data locally. Repeated data collections took place in 2012 and 2017.
Bilthoven: In Bilthoven, EPIC is coordinated by the Department for Life Course, Lifestyle and Health of the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment. Data collection for EPIC was incorporated in the MORGEN study and is called the MORGEN-EPIC cohort study. The MORGEN study was set up to monitor risk factors and chronic diseases of major public health importance in the Netherlands. At baseline, the prevalence of risk factors for chronic diseases was determined using self-administered questionnaires and a physical examination in a randomly selected sample of men and women from the Dutch population aged 20–59 years in three cities in the Netherlands (Amsterdam, Doetinchem, and Maastricht).
Utrecht: The Utrecht EPIC cohort is coordinated by the Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care of the University Medical Center Utrecht (UMCU) and is called Prospect-EPIC. It recruited women aged 49–70 years from the breast cancer screening programme in Utrecht and its surroundings.
Participants are followed up over time for changes in exposure and for the occurrence of cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and other medical conditions by linkage to several registries, such as the Netherlands Cancer Registry, the causes of death registry of Statistics Netherlands, and the hospital discharge diagnoses through the Dutch Centre for Health Care Information.
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