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Study Description

Adverse effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID19) pandemic on US society, health, and economy are widespread. The Collaborative Cohort of Cohorts for COVID-19 Research (C4R) aims to advance our knowledge on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. C4R is a diverse national prospective study comprising 14 long-standing prospective cohort studies and over 49,000 participants with extensive pre-COVID-19 phenotype data. C4R links pre-pandemic data on clinical and subclinical diseases and their risk factors, including behavior, cognition, biomarkers, and social determinants of health, to information on severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and acute and post-acute COVID-related illness. Ascertainment of COVID-19 infection occurs via standardized questionnaires, adjudication of COVID-related hospitalizations and deaths, and SARS-CoV-2 serosurvey via dried blood spot cards. C4R is investigating the following research questions: 1) how pre-existing health conditions affect risk of severe or prolonged COVID-19 related illness; 2) how SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 illness affect long-term health; and 3) how the pandemic has affected health-related behaviors and non-COVID health outcomes. This resource will allow evaluation of risk and resilience factors for COVID-19 severity and long-term health effects.

Cohort Description

The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) is a study of the characteristics of subclinical cardiovascular disease (CVD) and the risk factors that predict progression to clinically overt CVD or progression of the subclinical disease. MESA researchers study a diverse, population-based sample of 6,814 asymptomatic men and women aged 45-84. Participants were recruited from six field centers across the United States: Wake Forest University, Columbia University, Johns Hopkins University, University of Minnesota, Northwestern University and University of California - Los Angeles.

Participants of this study are limited to MESA Classic participants. MESA Family and MESA Air Pollution cohorts are excluded from C4R.

Data Being Submitted

  • Wave 1 questionnaire data includes 397 variables for up to 3119 MESA participants in C4R.
  • Wave 2 questionnaire data includes 448 variables for up to 1933 MESA participants in C4R.
  • Dried Blood Spot/Serosurvey data includes 7 variables for up to 1058 MESA participants in C4R.
  • Derived data includes 43 variables for up to 3283 MESA participants in C4R.
  • Phenotype data includes 113 variables for up to 3136 MESA participants in C4R.

Authorized Access
Publicly Available Data
  Link to other NCBI resources related to this study
Study Inclusion/Exclusion Criteria

Please see phs000209. MESA Family and MESA Air Pollution cohorts are excluded from C4R.

Study History

Please see phs000209. C4R activities were completed in the following timeframes:

  • Wave 1 questionnaire: 2020-2021
  • Wave 2 questionnaire: 2021-2022
  • Dried blood spots: 2021-2022
Selected Publications
Diseases/Traits Related to Study (MeSH terms)
Authorized Data Access Requests
See articles in PMC citing this study accession
Study Attribution
  • Principal Investigator
    • Elizabeth C. Oelsner, MD, MPH. Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA.
  • Co-Principal Investigator
    • R. Graham Barr, MD, DrPH. Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA.
  • Co-Investigator
    • Pallavi Balte, MBBS, MPH, PhD. Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA.
  • Cohort Principal Investigators
    • Wendy Post, MD, MS. Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
    • Norrina Bai Allen, PhD. Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA.
  • Cohort Co-Investigator
    • Bruce Psaty, MD, MPH, PhD. University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
  • Data Managers
    • Craig Johnson. University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
    • Karen Hinckley-Stukovsky. University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.