Frequently Asked Questions
Cantabria Cohort includes more than 50,000 residents of Cantabria (minimum 6 months) between 40 and 70 years old.
To contribute to the advancement of science and medicine for the benefit of society, knowing that this progress is made possible, in part, thanks to you.
This project serves as a launchpad for biomedical research in Cantabria, aiming to understand the health of Cantabrians and the factors involved in the development of diseases. The analysis of this data is helping to establish new policies and treatments aimed at preventing and managing illnesses.
Cantabria Cohort has been designed to bring together information on a large number of factors influencing health, such as clinics, socioeconomy, lifestyle, family history of disease, environment, etc. The following image shows an estimate of the influence of these factors on people's health.
This information is collected directly through validated questionnaires, as well as from official records. Clinical data are obtained from medical records, while socioeconomic and environmental data are gathered from both the Land Registry and specific questionnaires.
Participation in the study involves providing access to health-related data (obtained from official records), completing questionnaires on lifestyle habits and socioeconomic information, and donating a blood sample to be used for research purposes. In addition, other physical assessments are performed, such as body composition measurement (bioelectrical impedance analysis), blood pressure measurement, grip strength assessment, and agility tests.
If you have to undergo any type of healthcare process (biopsy, surgery, etc.) that requires the taking of a sample of any of your tissues, the excess of this sample can be donated to the Valdecilla Biobank. Therefore, donating tissue surplus does not involve any additional or different process than what you would undergo under your doctor's recommendation for your health care.
No. In Cantabria Cohort, we will never carry out any tests that could affect your health. If, during follow-up or the assessments performed as part of the studies, any relevant medical issue is identified, you will be informed directly.
Your contact details are listed in the official records of the Regional Health Department (Consejería de Salud), the promoter of this project.
Anyone who meets the inclusion criteria (residing in Cantabria and being between 40 and 70 years old) can participate, regardless of their condition. However, our medical team will assess whether participation in the study may pose any risk to you.
All persons who meet the inclusion criteria (residing in Cantabria and between 40 and 70 years old) can participate and should not alter their medication intake. However, please inform the health personnel and this information will be taken into account in the analysis of your results.
All people who meet the inclusion criteria (living in Cantabria and between 40 and 70 years of age) can participate. However, if you are pregnant or think you might be pregnant, please inform our personnel and the health team will assess whether your participation in the study may involve any risk to you.
Each time you attend a new appointment, you will need to complete the informed consent (two copies) and a lifestyle questionnaire. Later on, you will receive new questionnaires and may be invited to participate in additional studies derived from this project. The planned follow-up will take place approximately every 5 years over an indefinite period.
These documents will be sent to you by email. The participant information sheet and the informed consent form are also available on Documents.
Participation in Cantabria Cohort is completely voluntary, consensual and altruistic, without any economic retribution.
This project is led and promoted by the Marqués de Valdecilla Research Institute (IDIVAL), the Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospital (HUMV) and the Health Council of the Government of Cantabria. Participants will NEVER be asked for any information regarding their bank accounts and no payment will ever be requested.
The medical tests for this study are carried out at the Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospital, on the ground floor of Pavilion 20*. These tests do not usually take more than 15 minutes.
*Due to construction work at the hospital, access to Pavilion 20 must be made via 2 de Noviembre or Valdecilla Sur, as indicated in the instructions.
You will receive the results of your tests by email approximately 2 weeks after your appointment. If you would like us to send them again, you can request them at Request Results. The results of the tests performed are reviewed by specialists at Hospital Valdecilla involved in the Cantabria Cohort. If any new and significant abnormality is found, a professional will contact you to provide advice and the appropriate healthcare assistance.
The laboratory tests carried out during the inclusion in the Cantabria Cohort project includes the following parameters:
- Biochemistry: glucose, glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), urea, creatinine, sodium, potassium, calcium, uric acid, transaminases (ALT, AST, GGT), alkaline phosphatase, triglycerides, cholesterol, albumin, HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, C-reactive protein, and apolipoproteins A1 and B.
- Hormones: thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH).
- Haematology: leukocytes, neutrophils, lymphocytes, monocytes, eosinophils, basophils, erythroblasts, red blood cells, haemoglobin, haematocrit, Mean Corpuscular Haemoglobin (MCH), Erythrocyte Distribution Width (EDW), Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV), Mean Corpuscular Haemoglobin Concentration (MCHC), platelets, Mean Platelet Volume (MPV), and platelet count.
- Immunology: antinuclear antibodies (ANA), anti–smooth muscle antibodies (ASMA), anti–mitochondrial antibodies (AMA), and anti–tissue transglutaminase antibodies (anti-tTG).
- Microbiology (first appointment): serological tests to assess antibodies against Hepatitis C virus (HCV), Hepatitis B virus (HBV), and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).
This analysis does not include tumour markers or genetic analysis.
The Instituto de Investigación Marqués de Valdecilla-IDIVAL, as coordinator of the Cantabria Cohort project, is responsible for the custody of the participants' data and strict compliance with ethical principles and legal regulations to guarantee respect for the confidentiality and rights of the participants.
Las muestras de sangre serán procesadas y almacenadas junto con sus datos clínicos en el Valdecilla Biobank, para ser utilizadas en futuros proyectos de investigación.
Solamente el equipo implicado en la coordinación de Cohorte Cantabria podrá acceder a sus datos identificativos y de contacto. Para conocer el proceso de cesión de datos y muestras anonimizados para investigación, puede consultar la sección Researchers.
This information will serve as a launching pad for health research projects. It will allow us to know, study and understand the causes of diseases in the population of Cantabria. You can always find all the updated information about the research in which we are involved in the section Scientific activity.
It is not necessary. Our team will contact participants periodically to update their information.
It is not necessary. By signing the informed consent form before your visit, you grant our data team access to your clinical information held by the Cantabrian Health Service. Likewise, Cantabria Cohort periodically sends questionnaires to learn about the health status of our volunteers.
Consent for participation in the study and the storage of your samples and data can be revoked at any time. You can also request the deletion or anonymisation of your data by sending an email to cohortecantabria@idival.org
You can contact the Cantabria Cohort team by sending an email to cohortecantabria@idival.org
The main objective of the Cantabria Cohort is to serve as a research platform so that the data and samples collected can be used for the development of different research projects, always subject to approval by the corresponding committees. The results obtained from the analyses carried out by different research teams are then incorporated back into the Cantabria Cohort, making them available for future projects under a collaborative science model. This will help to better understand the unique characteristics of the population of Cantabria and provide relevant information to improve knowledge of different diseases, contributing to their prevention, early detection, and the development of more effective treatments.
All approved projects that are currently using data and samples from the Cantabria Cohort are published in the Research > Scientific Activity > Projectssection. This section includes the institution and the principal investigator responsible for each project.
No. The data is not sold. The data is safeguarded by IDIVAL, which remains the legal data controller. The use of the data is regulated through different collaboration agreements or arrangements, in accordance with Spanish and European legislation.
Only for health research. This includes the study of diseases, the identification of biological patterns, and the development of scientific knowledge. The data cannot be used for non-health-related commercial purposes, such as insurance or marketing. Its use will be strictly limited and regulated through the collaboration agreements that are signed.
Potentially, yes. Scientific collaborations make it possible to generate new knowledge, which may subsequently lead to the development of new products or technologies with commercial value. For example, they could enable the identification of new biological processes involved in the onset of a disease, and thereby the identification of drug targets for which a new medication could be developed to treat the disease.
No. Under no circumstances will personal data or data that could identify the participant be shared. In addition, European regulations prohibit and sanction any attempt at re-identification.
Through several mechanisms that are set out in the legal and technical framework established in the agreement. These include:
- Compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Spanish Organic Law on Data Protection and Guarantee of Digital Rights (LOPDGDD).
- Compliance with the Biomedical Research Law and Royal Decree 1716/2011.
- Signing of agreements that establish the conditions of use.
- Approval of the use of data/samples by the Cantabria Research Ethics Committee (CEIm-C) and Scientific Committees.
All scientific projects involving the transfer of data and samples must be approved by: the Steering Committee of the Cantabria Cohort, the Ethics Committee, and the External Scientific Committee of the Valdecilla Biobank.
Yes. You can modify your consent at any time, indicating any restrictions you wish to apply to the use of your samples and data. To do so, you must send an email to: cohortecantabria@idival.org.
Yes. Participation is completely voluntary. Any participant may withdraw at any time and request the deletion of their data and samples. To do so, you must send an email to: cohortecantabria@idival.org.
Modern medicine has shown that clinical data alone are not sufficient to fully understand many diseases. The incorporation of genomic data (all gene variations present in each individual) and proteomic data (differences in protein expression in each individual) will allow:
- Understanding the biological mechanisms of diseases, and thereby advancing the development of more effective treatments.
- Identifying risk factors before disease onset, and therefore improving early diagnosis.
- Advancing towards more precise and personalized medicine.
It is currently not possible to carry out genomic and proteomic analyses of all 51,000 participants, nor the required bioinformatic analyses, using public resources. A scientific collaboration with Regeneron has been established because it is considered the most suitable partner based on technical and operational criteria, as it has the necessary large-scale technological and analytical capabilities to carry out the work. This collaboration ensures the required expertise to perform these highly complex studies, as well as the delivery of high-quality results within a reasonable timeframe.
Yes. It is worth noting that the main European cohort reference study, the UK Biobank project, which includes 500,000 participants, has carried out the same genomic sequencing and proteomic analyses in collaboration with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. The scientific design of the Cantabria Cohort is largely based on the UK Biobank study.
No, it has not yet been approved or signed. Therefore, no data or samples from any participant have been sent.
No. There is no payment for the data or any financial transaction between either party. The agreement is based on scientific collaboration.
Only the minimum data necessary for the research project covered by the agreement will be shared. The clinical record as an identifiable document is not transferred. Certain structured clinical data relevant to the research, such as diagnoses or laboratory results, as well as family medical history, may be shared, always without personal identification. Under no circumstances is any personal data or information that could identify participants shared.
This collaboration will provide highly valuable results for biomedical research. In particular, it will enable access to advanced technology to generate large volumes of biological data, allowing the Cantabria Cohort to be positioned internationally as a top-level research platform. The data generated from genomic and proteomic analyses will be available for use by other researchers from IDIVAL or other institutions, combined with the rest of the data collected in the Cantabria Cohort.
Society will benefit from the results of all research projects that in the future use the data generated through this collaboration. These include:
- Improved understanding of diseases.
- Advances in prevention and diagnosis.
- Strengthening of the healthcare system.
- Development of the scientific ecosystem.
There is no immediate individual clinical benefit. However, participation contributes to generating knowledge that may improve population health, the healthcare system, and, in the future, how diseases are prevented and treated. The benefit is collective and medium-to-long term.
Yes. Following the press conference presenting the collaboration, all participants were sent the information via the official project newsletter. The newsletter is sent to all participants who have authorized Cohorte Cantabria to receive such communications by email. Particularly relevant projects due to their contribution to Cohorte Cantabria, such as the proposed collaboration with Regeneron, are additionally disseminated through general media in the form of press releases.
Yes. The Participant Information Sheet and Informed Consent state that the data and samples collected in the Cantabria Cohort may be shared with third parties for national or international research projects, always subject to the approval of the corresponding committees.