The Netherlands Cohort Consortium (NCC) receives 17 million in infrastructure funding for a major study on healthy aging. RIVM, through the Doetinchem Cohort Study, is one of the NCC partners. With this investment, RIVM, nearly all university medical centers, and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam join forces in one national cohort: a unique research infrastructure with data from nearly half a million Dutch people.
The Doetinchem Cohort Study
The NCC brings together the largest population cohorts in the Netherlands, including the Doetinchem Cohort Study. Through this, RIVM has been conducting research for nearly forty years on a large group of people throughout their lives. Topics covered include:
- lifestyle, health, and diseases;
- gender differences in health;
- cognitive decline and dementia;
- healthcare usage and costs.
This research provides clues for prevention and helps RIVM advise policymakers and professionals better.
Major Source of Knowledge
For RIVM, the NCC subsidy provides a valuable contribution to strengthening collaboration and broader use of Dutch cohort data. With this infrastructure funding, datasets can be merged, creating a coherent source of knowledge about health, lifestyle, environment, and aging. The consortium can study on a large scale how and why people age healthily and what can be done to prevent diseases. The focus is on multimorbidity (the co-occurrence of multiple chronic conditions) and new health risks, such as emerging infectious diseases.
