Table 1.
Description of selected characteristics of the study population and design by center as of December 2013.
| Study center | Study region | Diagnostic period |
Number of participating hospitals |
No. of ethics committees (e.g., IRBs) needed to obtain ethics for all participating hospitals | Direct access to data on eligible patients periodically or in the end of the study | Expected number of eligible cases |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start | End | Cases | Controls | Target population at risk | Expected eligible cases (per year) | ||||
| Australia | Greater metropolitan areas of Melbourne and Sydney | June 2012 | December 2014 | 10 | 26 | 25 | No | 1,600,000 | 32 |
| Austria | Nationwide | June 2012 | December 2014 | 4 | 7 | 10 | Yes | 1,500,000 | 30 |
| Canada | Greater metropolitan areas of Ottawa, Toronto, and Vancouver | June 2012 | December 2014 | 7 | 12 | 15 | Yes | 1,760,905 | 54 |
| France | 15 Districts in 7 areas: Lorraine, Ile-de-France, Rhône-Isère, Hérault, Bouches-du-Rhône, Alsace, Gironde | March 2011 | December 2014 | 14 | 44 | 1 | Yes | 3,485,577 | 63 |
| Germany | Nationwide | October 2010 | June 2014 | 62 | 65 | 8 | No | 5,598,131 | 84 |
| Greece | Nationwide | May 2010 | December 2013 | 23 | 19 | 16a | No | 1,690,000 | 16 |
| India | Mumbai | May 2013 | December 2014 | 2 | 2 | 2 | Yes | 4,358,085 | 28 |
| Israel | Nationwide | August 2010 | December 2014 | 5 | 10 | 10 | Yes | 1,800,000 | 27 |
| Italy | Four regions: Piemonte, Lombardia, Toscana, and Emilia Romagna | January 2011 | September 2014 | 33 | 39 | 45 | Yes | 2,937,400 | 46 |
| Japan | Tokyo metropolitan area | June 2011 | December 2014 | 18 | 13 | 23 | No | 1,700,000 | 34 |
| Korea | Metropolitan areas of Seoul and Incheon and Gyeonggi-do province | January 2012 | December 2014 | 5 | 10 | 8 | No | 4,713,814 | 52 |
| New Zealand | Nationwide | June 2013 | December 2014 | – | – | – | Yes | 925,720 | 17 |
| Spain | Four autonomous communities: Andalucia, Catalonia, Madrid, and Valencia | January 2011 | December 2014 | 58 | 69 | 69 | Yes | 4,134,986 | 43 |
| The Netherlands | Nationwide | June 2011 | December 2014 | 10 | 7 | 17 | No | 1,600,000 | 30 |
| Total | – | May 2010 | December 2014 | 251 | 323 | 249 | – | 37,804,618 | 556 |