The Southern Community Cohort Study: Investigating Health Disparities

Abstract

Over 73,700 adults age 40-79, nearly 70% African American, were recruited at community health centers across 12 southeastern states; individual characteristics were recorded and biologic specimens collected at baseline for later follow-up.The Southern Community Cohort Study is a unique national resource for assessing determinants of racial/ethnic differentials in diseases. Keywords Cancer; cohort study; African Americans; health disparities; community health studiesThe incidence of and mortality from several cancers, cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes, and many other chronic illnesses tend to be greater among African Americans than among other population groups in the United States.1,2 The Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance, described in this issue of the Journal, has stimulated research addressing this national problem.One such major initiative launched by investigators at Vanderbilt, Meharry, the International Epidemiology Institute, and Community Health Centers throughout the Southeast is the Southern Community Cohort Study (SCCS).3 The goal of the SCCS is to elucidate and discover the sources of higher rates of cancer and other diseases among African Americans in comparison with Whites in this region.The SCCS protocols are reviewed and approved by Institutional Review Boards at Vanderbilt University and Meharry Medical College.Here, we describe the partnership between scientific investigators and local health centers that has enabled the recruitment of large numbers of adults into the SCCS.The study methods are outlined, characteristics of the cohort are presented, and unique opportunities for research in the coming years are outlined. Recruitment of study subjects.Recruitment of participants into the SCCS across a 12-state area of the Southeast (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia) (Figure 1) began in March 2002 and was completed in September 2009.Some participants entered the study by completing questionnaires mailed to random samples of adults, but most (approximately 85%) of the participants were enrolled at community health centers (CHCs), institutions offering basic health and preventative services mainly to the medically uninsured.4 We focus on the CHC component of the SCCS in this paper.The 71 CHCs working together with the SCCS,

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