Cohort Profile: The Malaysian Cohort (TMC) project: a prospective study of non-communicable diseases in a multi-ethnic population

Abstract

The Malaysian Cohort study was initiated in 2005 by the Malaysian government. The top-down approach to this population-based cohort study ensured the allocation of sufficient funding for the project which aimed to recruit 100 000 individuals aged 35–70 years. Participants were recruited from rural and urban areas as well as from various socioeconomic groups. The main objectives of the study were to identify risk factors, to study gene-environment interaction and to discover biomarkers for the early detection of cancers and other diseases. At recruitment, a questionnaire-based interview was conducted, biophysical measurements were performed and biospecimens were collected, processed and stored. Baseline investigations included fasting blood sugar, fasting lipid profile, renal profile and full blood count. From April 2006 to the end of September 2012 we recruited a total of 106 527participants. The baseline prevalence data showed 16.6% participants with diabetes, 46.5% with hypertension, 44.9% with hypercholesterolaemia and 17.7% with obesity. The follow-up phase commenced in June 2013. This is the most comprehensive and biggest cohort study in Malaysia, and has become a valuable resource for epidemiological and biological research. For information on collaboration and also data access, investigators can contact the project leader at (rahmanj@ppukm.ukm.edu.my).

Global Lung Initiative 2012 spirometry reference values in a large Asian cohort of Malay, Chinese and Indian ancestry

“…A larger percentage of the contemporary Malaysian population were recruited from urban areas especially for the Chinese subjects. The operational definition of location of participants including urban or rural sampling was described in our previous study …”

“…This cross‐sectional study was performed as part of the Malaysian Cohort Project (TMC), a prospective population‐based cohort comprising 106 527 volunteers aged between 35 and 70 years from the three major Malaysian ancestral groups: Malay, Chinese and Indian. This study was approved by the institutional review and ethics board of the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (Project Code: FF‐205‐2007).…”

“…This cross-sectional study was performed as part of the Malaysian Cohort Project (TMC), a prospective population-based cohort comprising 106 527 volunteers aged between 35 and 70 years 23 Subjects with cardio-respiratory symptoms and/or diagnosed with acute or past respiratory diseases (chronic bronchitis, COPD and pulmonary tuberculosis and asthma), cardiac diseases (stroke and myocardial infarction), hypertension, diabetes (both old and new cases diagnosed in our study) and history of ever and/or current cigarettes smoking were excluded. All diseases were based on self-reporting except for diabetes and hypertension, which comprise both selfreporting and measurements.…”

Characterizing the genetic risk for Type 2 diabetes in a Malaysian multi‐ethnic cohort

“…Malaysia is a multi‐ethnic country whose population of 28.3 million includes three major ancestral groups: Malay ( ~ 63%), Chinese ( ~ 25%) and Indian ( ~ 7%). The prevalence of Type 2 diabetes in the Malaysian population appears to differ among the three major ethnic groups, with Asian Indians having the highest prevalence (25–28%), followed by those of Malay ancestry (17–19%), and the lowest apparent prevalence being among those of Chinese ancestry (9–14%) .…”

“…Using genotype data generated with the Illumina Metabochip array (Illumina Inc, San Diego, CA, USA), we sought to characterize the association of known Type 2 diabetes loci in Malaysian cohorts of Malay, Chinese and Indian ancestry. Our study had three principal aims: (1) to assess the association of individual, previously reported Type 2 diabetes risk variants with Type 2 diabetes, within and across Malaysian ancestry groups; (2) to assess evidence for excess concordance in the directional effect of Type 2 diabetes risk alleles between previously studied populations and the Malaysian population and; (3) to test genetic risk scores that combine information across multiple single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for association with Type 2 diabetes in Malaysian groups.…”