Aims and objectives
The German National Cohort (GNC) is an interdisciplinary,
multicentre,
population-based cohort study currently undertaken by a network of over 25 institutions in Germany.
Its main goal is the investigation of the development of common chronic diseases (including cancer,
diabetes,
cardiovascular,
neurodegenerative/psychiatric,
respiratory and infectious diseases).
While all 200,000 volunteers of the GNC undergo an initial extended 2.5 hours exam including interviews,
questionnaires and a variety of physical exams,
a subgroup of 30,000 examinees will undergo whole-body magnetic resonance imaging (wbMRI) of which about 3,000 participants...
Methods and materials
Participants:
The FU questionnaire pilot phase was monocentric and was conducted among volunteers who received a wbMRI between 01/2016-02/2016 in the study centre of Neubrandenburg.
With a ratio of 1:1 with and without disclosed IF 86 participants were manually selected in the Imaging Core for Incidental Findings,
Heidelberg.
The questionnaires were sent out 6-7 months after the wbMRI examination,
leaving sufficient time for work-up of the disclosed IFs and final diagnosis.
In case a questionnaire was not returned after four weeks,
the questionnaire was sent...
Results
Response Rates and Reliability
The general characteristics of the participants are shown inFigure 1.
81 out of 86 participants responded to the survey (94% response rate) with a completion ratio of the first 13 questions of 96%.
Compliance is to be considered sufficient,
since there has been no incomplete questionnaire (more than 50% missing values).
58 participants responded to the initial delivery of the questionnaire within 12±6 days.
24 participants responded to the second delivery of the questionnaire and/or the telephone reminder within 24±10 days....
Conclusion
In this pilot trial we observed a very high response rate and low rate of missing answers with no difference regarding the presence of IF.
This result encourages us to conduct this survey in a larger group of participants.
Our questionnaire was developed by experts,
based on the questionnaire developed by Erdmann et al.
used in the SHIP study along with its modifications for the KORA study.
All questions were designed with the primary objective to receive feedback on ethically and scientifically relevant questions.
The...
Personal information
Peter Hegedues1,
Oyunaa v.
Stackelberg1,
Christoph Neumann2,
Sonja Selder3,
Nicole Werner4,
Robert C.
Bertheau1,
Hans-Ulrich Kauczor1,
Christopher L.
Schlett1,5,
Sabine Weckbach1
1Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology,
University Hospital Heidelberg,
Heidelberg,
Germany
2Division of Cancer Epidemiology,
German Cancer Research Center,
Heidelberg,
Germany
3Institute of Clinical Radiology,
Ludwig-Maximilian-University Hospital,
Munich,
Germany
4Institute of Community Medicine,
SHIP/ Clinical-Epidemiological Research,
University of Greifswald,
Greifswald,
Germany
5Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology,
Medical Center - University of Freiburg,
Freiburg,
Germany
References
Schlett CL,
Hendel T,
Weckbach S et al (2016) Population-Based Imaging and Radiomics: Rationale and Perspective of the German National Cohort MRI Study.
Rofo 188:652-661
Wolf SM,
Lawrenz FP,
Nelson CA et al (2008) Managing incidental findings in human subjects research: analysis and recommendations.
J Law Med Ethics 36:219-248,
211
Bamberg F,
Kauczor HU,
Weckbach S et al (2015) Whole-Body MR Imaging in the German National Cohort: Rationale,
Design,
and Technical Background.
Radiology 277:206-220
Radiologists TRCo (2011) Management of incidental findings detected during research imaging.,...