Rationale for a Swedish cohort consortium

• Main Authors: 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
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Upsala Medical Society 2019-01-01
• Series: Upsala Journal of Medical Sciences
• Subjects: common infrastructure; epidemiological research; pilot study; rare outcomes; swedish cohort consortium
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03009734.2018.1556754

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.