About The CARRS Cohort
OVERVIEW
The CARRS Cohort is a state-of-the-art, population-based cohort of South Asians to address existing and emerging questions related to cardio-metabolic disease.
Heart disease and diabetes are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. India and the South Asian region broadly are at the epicenter of the cardiometabolic diseases epidemic.
Since inception, the CARRS cohort has grown to follow a diverse population-based sample of more than 20,000 South Asian adults age ≥ 20 years, with ongoing follow-up for clinical cardiovascular risk factors, clinical disease, and mortality. The cohort was recruited in two waves, CARRS-1 in 2010-11 and CARRS-2 in 2015-16, and has high retention rates (70-85% annual follow-up, 88% hybrid tele/in-person attendance even during COVID, and >95% have at least one follow-up or death in 10 years of follow up) with a biorepository of 360,000 stored samples.
This study involves a questionnaire, anthropometric measurements and biospecimen collection. The cohort study’s newest iteration, Precision-CARRS, also includes specialized imaging, ambient air pollution measurements, and integrative ‘omics analyses on stored and newly-collected bio-specimens. Precision-CARRS will help us understand how factors that lead to heart attacks and heart failure develop in different people and will drive a revolution of finding unique factors in people that can be targeted with suitable prevention and care strategies. To learn more about Precision-CARRS, please click here.
The CARRS Cohort in India was assembled in two waves [CARRS-1 (2010-11) n=12,271; 10,205 with biospecimens and CARRS-2 (2015-16), n=9,593; 9,070 with biospecimens], as population-based representative samples of Delhi and Chennai.
The cohort is followed annually for events and mortality, and biennially for collection of biospecimens and anthropometric measurements. So far we have followed 21,864 people aged ≥20 years (19,275 gave biospecimens) and accrued 176,536 person years of follow up, and maintained a biorepository of >360,000 samples.
STRENGTHS
Recruitment of adults ages 20 years and older, to understand the development of cardiometabolic risk at different life stages
Scientifically informative and distinctive distribution of exposures (e.g., ambient air pollution, body mass index) relative to other global cohorts
Reliable data on events and causes of death, which are the cornerstone for building a solid evidence base for health policy, planning, monitoring and evaluation
SCIENTIFIC CONTRIBUTION
100+
abstracts presented at international conferences
58+
peer-reviewed publications
Wide dissemination
through the lay press
TRAINING AND CAPACITY BUILDING
High impact investment in bidirectional (India-US) research capacity building
80+
More than 80 junior
investigators trained
Several institutional training grants connected to the cohort
POLICY IMPACT
Generating evidence for policy to improve health
Contributing to large, pooled studies of health in low- and middle-income countries (e.g., Global Burden of Disease study, the International Diabetes Federation’s Diabetes Atlas)
Engaging a variety of stakeholders in community and policy spheres
Informing prevention and disease management interventions to improve population health