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European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC): study populations and data collection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2007

E Riboli ,
KJ Hunt ,
N Slimani ,
P Ferrari ,
T Norat ,
M Fahey ,
UR Charrondière ,
B Hémon ,
C Casagrande  and
J Vignat
...Show all authors
E Riboli*
Affiliation:
Unit of Nutrition and Cancer, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC–WHO), 150 cours Albert-Thomas, 69372 Lyon Cedex 08, France
KJ Hunt
Affiliation:
Division of Clinical Epidemiology, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX, USA
N Slimani
Affiliation:
Unit of Nutrition and Cancer, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC–WHO), 150 cours Albert-Thomas, 69372 Lyon Cedex 08, France
P Ferrari
Affiliation:
Unit of Nutrition and Cancer, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC–WHO), 150 cours Albert-Thomas, 69372 Lyon Cedex 08, France
T Norat
Affiliation:
Unit of Nutrition and Cancer, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC–WHO), 150 cours Albert-Thomas, 69372 Lyon Cedex 08, France
M Fahey
Affiliation:
Unit of Nutrition and Cancer, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC–WHO), 150 cours Albert-Thomas, 69372 Lyon Cedex 08, France
UR Charrondière
Affiliation:
Unit of Nutrition and Cancer, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC–WHO), 150 cours Albert-Thomas, 69372 Lyon Cedex 08, France
B Hémon
Affiliation:
Unit of Nutrition and Cancer, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC–WHO), 150 cours Albert-Thomas, 69372 Lyon Cedex 08, France
C Casagrande
Affiliation:
Unit of Nutrition and Cancer, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC–WHO), 150 cours Albert-Thomas, 69372 Lyon Cedex 08, France
J Vignat
Affiliation:
Unit of Nutrition and Cancer, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC–WHO), 150 cours Albert-Thomas, 69372 Lyon Cedex 08, France
K Overvad
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, University of Aarhus, Denmark
A Tjønneland
Affiliation:
Institute of Cancer Epidemiology, Danish Cancer Society, Copenhagen, Denmark
F Clavel-Chapelon
Affiliation:
INSERM, U521, Institute Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France
A Thiébaut
Affiliation:
INSERM, U521, Institute Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France
J Wahrendorf
Affiliation:
German Cancer Research Centre, Heidelberg, Germany
H Boeing
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology, German Institute of Human Nutrition, Potsdam-Rehbrücke, Germany
D Trichopoulos
Affiliation:
Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, School of Medicine, University of Athens, Greece Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
A Trichopoulou
Affiliation:
Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, School of Medicine, University of Athens, Greece
P Vineis
Affiliation:
Department of Biomedical Sciences and Human Oncology, University of Turin, Italy
D Palli
Affiliation:
Molecular & Nutrition Epidemiology Unit, CSPO, Scientific Institute of Tuscany, Florence, Italy
HB Bueno-de-Mesquita
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology, National Institute of Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, The Netherlands
PHM Peeters
Affiliation:
Julius Center for General Practice and Patient Oriented Research, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands
E Lund
Affiliation:
Institute of Community Medicine, University of Tromsø, Norway
D Engeset
Affiliation:
Institute of Community Medicine, University of Tromsø, Norway
CA González
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology, Catalan Institute of Oncology, Barcelona, Spain
A Barricarte
Affiliation:
Service of Surveillance and Epidemiological Control, Institute of Public Health of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
G Berglund
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine, Lund University, Malmö University Hospital, Sweden
G Hallmans
Affiliation:
Public Health and Clinical Medicine, University Hospital of Northern Sweden, Umeå, Sweden
NE Day
Affiliation:
Department of Public Health and Primary Care, School of Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge, UK
TJ Key
Affiliation:
Cancer Research UK, Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford, UK
R Kaaks
Affiliation:
Hormones and Cancer Group, IARC–WHO, Lyon, France
R Saracci
Affiliation:
Unit of Nutrition and Cancer, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC–WHO), 150 cours Albert-Thomas, 69372 Lyon Cedex 08, France Division of Epidemiology, IFC National Research Council, Pisa, Italy
*
*Corresponding author: Email ntr@iarc.fr
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Abstract

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The European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) is an ongoing multi-centre prospective cohort study designed to investigate the relationship between nutrition and cancer, with the potential for studying other diseases as well. The study currently includes 519 978 participants (366 521 women and 153 457 men, mostly aged 35–70 years) in 23 centres located in 10 European countries, to be followed for cancer incidence and cause-specific mortality for several decades. At enrolment, which took place between 1992 and 2000 at each of the different centres, information was collected through a non-dietary questionnaire on lifestyle variables and through a dietary questionnaire addressing usual diet. Anthropometric measurements were performed and blood samples taken, from which plasma, serum, red cells and buffy coat fractions were separated and aliquoted for long-term storage, mostly in liquid nitrogen. To calibrate dietary measurements, a standardised, computer-assisted 24-hour dietary recall was implemented at each centre on stratified random samples of the participants, for a total of 36 900 subjects. EPIC represents the largest single resource available today world-wide for prospective investigations on the aetiology of cancers (and other diseases) that can integrate questionnaire data on lifestyle and diet, biomarkers of diet and of endogenous metabolism (e.g. hormones and growth factors) and genetic polymorphisms. First results of case–control studies nested within the cohort are expected early in 2003. The present paper provides a description of the EPIC study, with the aim of simplifying reference to it in future papers reporting substantive or methodological studies carried out in the EPIC cohort.

Keywords

NutritionCancerChronic diseasesCohort studyAnthropometryBiological samplesEPIC studyEurope
Type
Research Article
Information
Public Health Nutrition , Volume 5 , Issue 6b , December 2002 , pp. 1113 - 1124
Copyright
Copyright © CABI Publishing 2002

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