Nurses' Health Study (NHS)

This study phs001129 NHS contains genotype and phenotype of subjects available from the phs001129 study. Summary level phenotypes for the NCI GECCO Consortium study participants can be viewed at the top-level study page phs001078 GECCO Consortium. Individual level phenotype data and molecular data for all GECCO Consortium top-level study and individual studies are available by requesting Authorized Access to the NCI GECCO Consortium phs001078 study.

This study was included as part of a GWAS consortium. The Nurses' Health Study (NHS) is comprised of 121,700 married female registered nurses aged 30 to 55 years in 1976 who returned an initial questionnaire. Follow up questionnaires have been regularly mailed and reported health outcomes have been confirmed through medical record review. Extensive follow up has reached a 92% response rate over time. Blood and "swish-and-spit" samples of buccal cells were also collected from participants. Two case-control sets were constructed for genotyping for this project. The first set was comprised of cases of colorectal cancer matched to randomly selected controls who provided a blood sample and were free of colorectal cancer at the same time the colorectal cancer was diagnosed in the cases. The second set was comprised of cases of colorectal cancer matched to randomly selected controls who provided a buccal sample and were free of colorectal cancer at the same time the colorectal cancer was diagnosed in the case. Additionally, a set of adenoma cases and matched controls with DNA from buffy coat were selected for genotyping.

• Study Weblinks:
  • Nurses' Health Study (NHS)
• Study Design:
  • Case-Control
• Study Type:
  • Nested Case-Control
  • Longitudinal Cohort
• Total number of consented subjects: 2606
• Subject Sample Telemetry Report (SSTR)

• BioProject
• PubMed
• BioSample
• MeSH
• PMC

Eligibility criteria for this study included:

• Married female registered nurses
• Aged 30 to 55 years
• Available DNA

Colorectal cancer cases exclusions:

• Colorectal cancer before enrollment
• In situ
• Neuroendocrine carcinoma (large cell)
• Squamous cell carcinoma
• Carcinoid tumor
• Goblet cell carcinoid
• Any type of lymphoma, including non-Hodgkin, Mantle cell, large B-cell, or follicular lymphoma
• History of cancer (except non-melanoma skin)
• History of ulcerative colitis
• History of familial polyposis

Controls were matched on year of birth (within one year) and month / year of blood or buccal cell sampling (within six months).

• Primary Phenotype: Colorectal Neoplasms

• NHS Principal Investigator
  • Andrew Chan, MD, MPH. Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
• NHS Funding Source
  • UM1 CA186107. National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
  • R01 CA137178. National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
  • P01 CA87969. National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
  • R01 CA151993. National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
  • P50 CA127003. National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
• GECCO Principal Investigator
  • Ulrike Peters, PhD. Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
• GECCO Co-Investigator
  • Li Hsu, PhD. Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA.
• GECCO Funding Source
  • U01 CA137088. National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
  • R01 CA059045. National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.