Cohort profile: The Czech Health, Alcohol and Psychosocial factors In Eastern Europe study (HAPIEE-CZ)

Cohort profile: The Czech Health, Alcohol and Psychosocial factors In Eastern Europe study (HAPIEE-CZ) | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Cohort profile: The Czech Health, Alcohol and Psychosocial factors In Eastern Europe study (HAPIEE-CZ) Andrea Dalecká, Anne Peasey, Yuwei Pan, Naděžda Čapková, Ludmila Šebejová, and 9 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8261173/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 5 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Background : The HAPIEE (Health, Alcohol and Psychosocial factors In Eastern Europe) is a population-based longitudinal prospective cohort study established to explore psychosocial, behavioural, and environmental risk factors of chronic conditions and ageing outcomes, including their trajectories, in middle aged and older urban populations. Methods : Four representative urban cohorts of middle-aged men and women were established in the Czech Republic (n = 8,856), Poland (n = 10,727), Lithuania (n = 10,940), and Russia (n = 9,363) in the early 2000s. This cohort profile update summarises the main design features across the four cohorts, followed by the recent re-examination of the Czech cohort in 2023-2024. At this most recent data collection, Czech participants aged 64-90 years completed postal questionnaire (n=2,350), performed physical and cognitive tests (n=1,519) and provided blood samples (n=1,388). Findings to date : The HAPIEE study is the largest multi-country cohort established in Eastern Europe, incorporating harmonized longitudinal data from four populations. The HAPIEE data have led to a considerable scientific contribution, including over 100 published papers in peer-reviewed journals. Large absolute and relative all-cause mortality inequalities in Eastern Europe were explained by measures of socio-economic position and material deprivation, including food access and living conditions. Additionally, increased frailty index, increased depressive symptoms, and poor cognitive functions were found as significant risk factors of all-cause mortality. The HAPIEE cohort contributed to development and validation of the ESC SCORE2 risk assessment model. Future directions: Data from all four cohorts were linked to national administrative registers offering a comprehensive view of the participants’ health status over more than 20 years. Additionally, geocoding of the participants’ addresses opened the opportunities to link data to numerous external exposome characteristics and census data. Lastly, DNA samples of Czech participants who provided blood sample at baseline underwent whole genome genotyping allowing investigation of the contribution of genetic predispositions (DNA polymorphisms, polygenic scores) to the various health conditions. Health sciences/Diseases Biological sciences/Genetics Health sciences/Health care Health sciences/Medical research Health sciences/Risk factors Cohort study Longitudinal design Epidemiology Biomarkers Ageing Mortality Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files Supplementaryfile.docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Reviewers invited by journal 05 Apr, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 31 Mar, 2026 Editor invited by journal 02 Jan, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 05 Dec, 2025 First submitted to journal 05 Dec, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8261173","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":619155421,"identity":"dc5e5003-108d-4114-8897-fdb4ba72ba00","order_by":0,"name":"Andrea Dalecká","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Faculty of Science, Masaryk University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Andrea","middleName":"","lastName":"Dalecká","suffix":""},{"id":619155422,"identity":"508cb4e7-87be-4a4f-852b-91d24015f3f5","order_by":1,"name":"Anne Peasey","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University College 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