Mexico City Prospective Study: cohort profile update

To fully understand the causes of human disease worldwide, large blood based prospective studies are needed in a range of populations with different healthcare settings and exposures to environmental and genetic risk factors. The Mexico City Prospective Study, updated in this cohort profile, was established in the late 1990s to investigate the sociodemographic, lifestyle, physical, and biological (including genetic) determinants of disease among around 150 000 adults in Mexico City. The study has over 20 years of mortality follow-up, cohort-wide biochemical and genetic data, repeat survey data from a subset of surviving participants, and ongoing ascertainment of non-fatal diseases. All Mexico City Prospective Study data are available for open access academic research within a trusted research environment, with preferential access for researchers based in Mexico and no data access fees for researchers in low income or middle income countries. Beyond representing a genetically diverse Latin American population, a key distinguishing feature of the study is the high baseline prevalence of obesity and diabetes. Earlier findings showed that diabetes had a substantially greater impact on mortality than suggested by evidence from high income countries, with a third of all deaths at ages 35-74 years attributed to diabetes. These results contributed to rapid changes in national disease prevention policies. By combining a genetically admixed (ie, individuals with ancestry from multiple ancestral populations) Latin American population, family based recruitment, a high burden of metabolic disease, availability of biochemical and genetic data, long term follow-up, and open access data availability, the Mexico City Prospective Study offers unique opportunities for health related discoveries within Mexico and internationally.