The German National Cohort Health Study (NaKo)

The goal of the German National Cohort Health Study is to gain more knowledge of risks, preventative factors and early signs of common diseases and how these diseases are distributed regionally throughout the general population. The study will investigate medical and biological parameters as well as environmental, lifestyle, social and work related influences and how they relate to the development of various diseases.

The NaKo study, involving 200,000 women and men between the ages of 20 and 69, is sponsored by the Federal and State governments as well as the Helmholtz Association. A total of 18 centers in 14 States are operating in association with various universities and other research institutes for the recruitment of volunteers. Residents that are selected through a random sampling of the German resident registry office have the opportunity to participate in this project supported by the German ministry for education and research. The study is planned to run for a minimum of thirty years.

Study centers in the State of Baden-Württemberg are located in Mannheim and Freiburg.

The Mannheim recruitment center, located in the city center, opened in 2014 and sees approximately 20 volunteer participants enter the study daily. The Mannheim study center will recruit 10,000 study subjects. Mannheim is one of only five centers nation-wide that also participate in the MRT arm of the NaKo project. Participants involved in this more extensive program have a full body MRT conducted, which take approximately one hour. Participants from Saarbrücken and Freiburg also travel to Mannheim for this extra examination.

For futher information on the German National Health Study (NakO) please visit our homepage at:
http://nako.de