Baseline characteritics of the population-based cohort in Iga City - the Iga City Cohort Study

We conducted a population-based genome cohort in Iga City, named Iga City Cohort Study, from March 2013 until July 2014, and recruited 1,572 participants in alliance with the J-MICC (Japan Multi-Institutional Collaborative Cohort) Study, under the cooperation of Iga citizens and the support of medical staffs in Iga City General Hospital with the aim of establishing the evidence for personalized disease prevention based on genomic information of each individual. After obtaining informed consent, interviews were conducted using the questionnaire constructed based on those practically used in J-MICC Study, where information on smoking behaviors, drinking habits, physical activities, food intake (food frequency questionnaire, FFQ) and socioeconomic status (SES) including educational backgrounds was asked and collected. Biological samples were collected together with the health check-up examination samples. The samples collected included serum, plasma and buffy coat from which genomic DNA was extracted after centrifuge procedures. In parallel, we performed a public service for Helicobacter pylori (HP) eradication to Iga citizens, and research on the minimally invasive diagnostic testing for early detection of cancer is now ongoing. Effective utilization of the collected data in this cohort study for the health promotion of Iga citizens as well as Japanese citizens is greatly expected.