GNC study surveys participants on COVID-19

“The GNC is the only nationwide cohort study that collected data on the health of the German population right before and at the start of the pandemic,” says Professor Annette Peters, chair of the GNC board of directors and head of the Institute of Epidemiology at Helmholtz Zentrum München. “As a result, the GNC provides the ideal basis for studying the effects of the pandemic on the population’s health.”  Experts predict that the pandemic and shutdown will have dire health consequences. So the researchers of the German National Cohort (GNC; German abbreviation: NAKO) have now launched a COVID-19 survey. Its purpose is to gather information on the spread, progression and impact of the virus in Germany. The research initiative got under way in late April; all subjects in the GNC study are being asked to participate. It’s not only about the infection status Half of the survey consists of questions related to infectious disease epidemiology, such as the participants’ state of health, infection status, changes in behavior due to the pandemic and social contacts during this time. Other questions deal with the psychosocial effects of the pandemic, including possible changes in employment status, lifestyle and social life as well as psychological effects. The questions are designed so that the data gathered can be compared directly with the data gathered by the GNC study prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 survey questionnaire was developed by GNC expert groups with broad expertise in infectious diseases and chronic conditions. It can be completed online or by mail and is limited to GNC participants. Those who want to use the online version will receive an email with login details. If participants have not provided an email address or if their address has changed, they should contact the respective study center. In addition, the GNC head office is making the questionnaire available for use in other studies. “Our study center also had to temporarily shut down due to the pandemic,” says Professor Tobias Pischon, head of the GNC’s Berlin-North Study Center at the MDC and a member of the GNC board of directors. “But we naturally want to know how are subjects are faring. Our network and the survey questionnaires now being sent out provide an opportunity to track the long-term effects of this pandemic” Further information Coronavirus research at the MDC Berlin-North Study Center   Website of the German National Cohort   Contacts  Professor Tobias Pischon Head of the Molecular Epidemiology Lab Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC) +49 (0)30 9406 4563 [email protected]   Glorianna Bisognin-Nechwatal Press Officer German National Cohort (GNC) +49 (0)6221 426 2061 [email protected] The German National Cohort (GNC) The German National Cohort (GNC) is a joint interdisciplinary endeavor of 27 research institutions. The network includes scientists from the Helmholtz and Leibniz Associations, universities and other research institutes in Germany. The cohort study is implemented by the German National Cohort Association at 18 regional study centers. It is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF ), the Helmholtz Association and the participating federal states. The Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC)   The Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC) was founded in Berlin in 1992. It is named for the German-American physicist Max Delbrück, who was awarded the 1969 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine. The MDC's mission is to study molecular mechanisms in order to understand the origins of disease and thus be able to diagnose, prevent and fight it better and more effectively. In these efforts the MDC cooperates with the Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Berlin Institute of Health (BIH ) as well as with national partners such as the German Center for Cardiovascular Research and numerous international research institutions. More than 1,600 staff and guests from nearly 60 countries work at the MDC, just under 1,300 of them in scientific research. The MDC is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (90 percent) and the State of Berlin (10 percent), and is a member of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centers. www.mdc-berlin.de