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BioMD-Y is a comprehensive biobank study of children and adolescents with major depression (MD) and their healthy peers in Germany, collecting a host of both biological and psychosocial information from the participants and their parents with the aim of exploring genetic and environmental risk and protective factors for MD in children and adolescents.
Children and adolescents aged 8–18 years are recruited to either the clinical case group (MD, diagnosis of MD disorder) or the typically developing control group (absence of any psychiatric condition).
To date, four publications on both genetic and environmental risk and resilience factors (including FKBP5, glucocorticoid receptor activation, polygenic risk scores, psychosocial and sociodemographic risk and resilience factors) have been published based on the BioMD-Y sample.
Data collection is currently scheduled to continue into 2026. Research questions will be further addressed using available measures.
Shoulder pain is a substantial medical and socioeconomic problem in most societies, affecting the ability to work or carry out leisure time activities as well as subsequently influencing physical and psychological well-being. According to a nationwide survey in Finland, 27% of the population reported shoulder pain within the last 30 days. In clinical practice, imaging findings of structural abnormalities are typically thought to explain symptoms, even though such findings are also prevalent in asymptomatic individuals, particularly with increasing age. Overall, there is a paucity of high-quality evidence on the prevalence, clinical relevance and prognosis of ‘abnormal’ imaging findings of the shoulder.
The aim of the Finnish Imaging of Shoulder (FIMAGE) study is fourfold: to assess (1) the prevalence of shoulder symptoms and the most common anatomical variants and imaging abnormalities of the shoulder; (2) the concordance between shoulder symptoms, function and imaging abnormalities; (3) the most important determinants of symptoms, function and imaging abnormalities; and (4) the course of shoulder complaints over 5 years.
The FIMAGE target population of 600 participants, aged 40–75 years, will be randomly selected from a nationally representative general population sample of 9922 individuals originally recruited for the Finnish Health 2000 Survey. On giving informed consent, the participants will be invited to a clinical visit that includes assessment of general health, shoulder symptoms, bilateral shoulder examination and imaging of both shoulders with plain radiography and MRI.
The study has been approved by the Institutional Review Board of the Helsinki and Uusimaa Hospital District. The findings will be published according to the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology criteria.
The RESPIRA cohort aims to describe the nature, magnitude, time course and efficacy of the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination, population prevalence, and household transmission of COVID-19.
From November 2020, we selected age-stratified random samples of COVID-19 cases from Costa Rica confirmed by PCR. For each case, two population-based controls, matched on age, sex and census tract were recruited, supplemented with hospitalised cases and household contacts. Participants were interviewed and blood and saliva collected for antibodies and PCR tests. Participants will be followed for 2 years to assess antibody response and infection incidence.
Recruitment included 3860 individuals: 1150 COVID-19 cases, 1999 population controls and 719 household contacts from 304 index cases. The age and regional distribution of cases was as planned, including four age strata, 30% rural and 70% urban. The control cohort had similar sex, age and regional distribution as the cases according to the study design. Among the 1999 controls recruited, 6.8% reported at enrolment having had COVID-19 and an additional 12.5% had antibodies against SARS-CoV-2. Compliance with visits and specimens has been close to 70% during the first 18 months of follow-up. During the study, national vaccination was implemented and nearly 90% of our cohort participants were vaccinated during follow-up.
RESPIRA will enable multiple analyses, including population prevalence of infection, clinical, behavioural, immunological and genetic risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 acquisition and severity, and determinants of household transmission. We are conducting retrospective and prospective assessment of antibody levels, their determinants and their protective efficacy after infection and vaccination, the impact of long-COVID and a series of ancillary studies. Follow-up continues with bimonthly saliva collection for PCR testing and biannual blood collection for immune response analyses. Follow-up will be completed in early 2024.
To apply videoconferencing as a new verification method prior to enrollment for an online survey-based study.
A prospective-observational, mixed methods, three group, repeated measures study involved recruiting a population-based sample of breastfeeding mothers and infants (N = 81). Twenty-seven mothers were recruited for each group: mothers returning to work outside of the home, mothers returning to work from home and mothers staying home with their infants full-time.
Data were collected at four time points, infant age 4, 12, 20 and 24 weeks, via online survey. Participating mothers received a $10 gift card for completing each survey. Social media, word of mouth and brochures promoted United States-based recruitment nationwide. A publicly available direct link to the survey was initially provided to interested mothers. After the suspicion of online fraud, videoconferencing was instituted for self-referrals and phone calls for professional referrals.
The survey was invaded by response fraud 3 weeks after the initial survey deployment. Out of 109 respondents who visited the survey site during that timeframe, only eight mothers (10%) were eligible (22 June 2022 to 14 July 2022). After recruitment modification, 313 individuals emailed the study team with 65 self-referred mothers (80%) enrolled in the study via videoconferencing while eight mothers (10%) had a professional referral and enrolled via phone call (23 August 2022 to 30 March 2023).
Providing a direct survey link, even with CAPTCHA-protection, evoked fraudulent responses. Videoconferencing is an emerging verification method that can be readily applied to the enrollment of breastfeeding dyads for an online study.
The emergence of fraudulent respondents and internet bots threatens data quality. This study addressed the strategy of videoconferencing as a new verification method for recruitment and enrollment of breastfeeding dyads. This knowledge can be applied by researchers to secure sample validity and data integrity.
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