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Coordinating centers in cancer epidemiology research: the Asia Cohort Consortium coordinating center.

ABSTRACT: Although it is tacitly recognized that a good coordinating center (CC) is essential to the success of any multisite collaborative project, very little study has been done on what makes a CC successful, why some CCs fail, or how to build a CC that meets the needs of a given project. Moreover, very little published guidance is available, as few CCs outside the clinical trial realm write about their work. The Asia Cohort Consortium (ACC) is a collaborative cancer epidemiology research project that has made strong scientific and organizational progress over the past 3 years by focusing its CC on the following activities: collaboration development; operations management; statistical and data management; and communications infrastructure and tool development. Our hope is that, by sharing our experience building the ACC CC, we can begin a conversation about what it means to run a CC for multi-institutional collaboration in cancer epidemiology, help other collaborative projects solve some of the issues associated with collaborative research, and learn from others.

SUBMITTER: Rolland B

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3189300 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Coordinating centers in cancer epidemiology research: the Asia Cohort Consortium coordinating center.

Rolland Betsy B Smith Briana R BR Potter John D JD

Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology 20110729 10

Although it is tacitly recognized that a good coordinating center (CC) is essential to the success of any multisite collaborative project, very little study has been done on what makes a CC successful, why some CCs fail, or how to build a CC that meets the needs of a given project. Moreover, very little published guidance is available, as few CCs outside the clinical trial realm write about their work. The Asia Cohort Consortium (ACC) is a collaborative cancer epidemiology research project that ...[more]

PMID: 21803842

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Project description:The Sanitation and Hygiene Applied Research for Equity (SHARE) Research Programme consortium is a programme funded by the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) that aims to contribute to achieving universal access to effective, sustainable, and equitable sanitation and hygiene worldwide. The capacity development component is an important pillar for this programme and different strategies were designed and implemented during the various phases of SHARE. This paper describes and reflects on the capacity-building strategies of this large multi-country research consortium, identifying lessons learnt and proposing recommendations for future global health research programmes. In the first phase, the strategy focused on increasing the capacity of individuals and institutions from low- and middle-income countries in conducting their own research. SHARE supported six PhD students and 25 MSc students, and organised a wide range of training events for different stakeholders. SHARE peer-reviewed all proposals that researchers submitted through several rounds of funding and offered external peer-review for all the reports produced under the partner's research platforms. In the second phase, the aim was to support capacity development of a smaller number of African research institutions to move towards their independent sustainability, with a stronger focus on early and mid-career scientists within these institutions. In each institution, a Research Fellow was supported and a specific capacity development plan was jointly developed.Strategies that yielded success were learning by doing (supporting institutions and postgraduate students on sanitation and hygiene research), providing fellowships to appoint mid-career scientists to support personal and institutional development, and supporting tailored capacity-building plans. The key lessons learnt were that research capacity-building programmes need to be driven by local initiatives tailored with support from partners. We recommend that future programmes seeking to strengthen research capacity should consider targeted strategies for individuals at early, middle and later career stages and should be sensitive to other institutional operations to support both the research and management capacities.

Project description:BackgroundThe occurrence of diabetes has greatly increased in low- and middle-income countries, particularly in Asia, as has the prevalence of overweight and obesity; in European-derived populations, overweight and obesity are established causes of diabetes. The shape of the association of overweight and obesity with diabetes risk and its overall impact have not been adequately studied in Asia.Methods and findingsA pooled cross-sectional analysis was conducted to evaluate the association between baseline body mass index (BMI, measured as weight in kg divided by the square of height in m) and self-reported diabetes status in over 900,000 individuals recruited in 18 cohorts from Bangladesh, China, India, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan. Logistic regression models were fitted to calculate cohort-specific odds ratios (OR) of diabetes for categories of increasing BMI, after adjustment for potential confounding factors. OR were pooled across cohorts using a random-effects meta-analysis. The sex- and age-adjusted prevalence of diabetes was 4.3% in the overall population, ranging from 0.5% to 8.2% across participating cohorts. Using the category 22.5-24.9 kg/m²) as reference, the OR for diabetes spanned from 0.58 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.31, 0.76) for BMI lower than 15.0 kg/m² to 2.23 (95% CI 1.86, 2.67) for BMI higher than 34.9 kg/m². The positive association between BMI and diabetes prevalence was present in all cohorts and in all subgroups of the study population, although the association was stronger in individuals below age 50 at baseline (p-value of interaction<0.001), in cohorts from India and Bangladesh (p<0.001), in individuals with low education (p-value 0.02), and in smokers (p-value 0.03); no differences were observed by gender, urban residence, or alcohol drinking.ConclusionsThis study estimated the shape and the strength of the association between BMI and prevalence of diabetes in Asian populations and identified patterns of the association by age, country, and other risk factors for diabetes.

Dataset Information

Coordinating centers in cancer epidemiology research: the Asia Cohort Consortium coordinating center.

Publications

Coordinating centers in cancer epidemiology research: the Asia Cohort Consortium coordinating center.

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