Determinants of cardiovascular disease in the Asian Pacific Region: Protocol for a collaborative overview of cohort studies

Background: Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death in most populations in the Asian Pacific region. This project was initiated to provide direct, reliable evidence about several determinants of stroke, coronary heart disease, and other common causes of death in these populations. Design and methods: The Asia Pacific Cohort Studies Collaboration is a collaborative overview (meta-analysis) of prospective observational studies. The aims are to determine the region-, age-, and sex-specific associations of blood pressure, total cholesterol and its subfractions, diabetes, obesity, alcohol consumption, smoking, occupation, and education with the risks of major cardiovascular diseases and of other cause-specific mortality. Estimates of association will be obtained using individual participant data from 58 cohorts involving more than 500,000 participants with an average of 9-year follow-up. Data from about 200,000 participants with repeat risk factor measurements will be used to make adjustments for regression dilution bias. Conclusions: The results of this collaboration should provide reliable evidence about the associations of several modifiable risk factors with the incidence of common cardiovascular diseases. These findings will be of direct relevance to strategies for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases in the Asian Pacific region.