Health and Prevention Enhancement (H-PEACE): a retrospective, population-based cohort study conducted at the Seoul National University Hospital Gangnam Center, Korea

Purpose The Health and Prevention Enhancement (H-PEACE) study was designed to investigate the association of diagnostic imaging results, biomarkers and the predisease stage of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as malignancies and metabolic diseases, in an average-risk population in Korea. Participants This study enrolled a large-scale retrospective cohort at the Healthcare System Gangnam Center, Seoul National University Hospital, from October 2003 to December 2014. Findings to date The baseline and follow-up information collected in the predisease stage of NCDs allows for evaluation of an individual’s potential NCD risk, which is necessary for establishing personalised prevention strategies. A total of 91 336 health examinees were included in the cohort, and we repeatedly measured and collected information for 50.9% (n=46 484) of the cohort members. All participants completed structured questionnaires (lifestyle, medical history, mini-dietary assessment index, sex-specific variables and psychiatric assessment), doctors’ physical examinations, laboratory blood and urine tests and digital chest X-ray imaging. For participants with available data, we also obtained information on specific diagnostic variables using advanced diagnostic tests, including coronary CT for coronary calcium scores, colonoscopy and brain MRI. Furthermore, 17 455 of the participants who provided informed consent and donated blood samples were enrolled into the Gene-environmental interaction and phenotype study, a subcohort of the H-PEACE, from October 2013, and we analysed genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphism array data for 6579 of these blood samples. Future plans The data obtained from this cohort will be used to facilitate advanced and accurate diagnostic techniques related to NCDs while considering various phenotypes. Potential collaborators can access the dataset after receiving approval from our institutional review board. Applications can be submitted on the study homepage (http://en-healthcare.snuh.org/HPEACEstudy).