German National Cohort (NAKO)
NAKO is a multidisciplinary, population-based cohort study of over 200,000 young, middle-aged, and older German adults. Participants were recruited from a network of 18 study centres across 16 study regions throughout Germany, including urban and industrialized areas alongside rural regions. All participants were identified based on age and sex-stratified samples randomly drawn from compulsory registries of residents within the study areas. NAKO also involves an additional project on the health status of former professional footballers, with over 300 ex-professional footballers recruited.
Study design
Cohort
Number of participants at first data collection
205,415 (participants)
Age at first data collection
19 - 74 years (participants)
Participant year of birth
Varied (participants)
Participant sex
All
Representative sample at baseline?
No
Sample features
Country
Year of first data collection
2014
Primary Institutions
Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, BMBF)
Helmholtz Association (Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft Deutscher Forschungszentren)
Leibniz Association (Leibniz-Gemeinschaft)
NAKO e.V. Association
Profile paper DOI
Funders
Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, BMBF) now known as Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (Bundesministerium für Forschung, Technologie und Raumfahrt, BMFTR)
Helmholtz Association (Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft Deutscher Forschungszentren)
Leibniz Association (Leibniz-Gemeinschaft)
Ongoing?
Yes
Data types collected
- Computer, paper or task testing (e.g. cognitive testing, theory of mind doll task, attention computer tasks)
- Interview – face-to-face
- Physical or biological assessment (e.g. blood, saliva, gait, grip strength, anthropometry)
- Secondary data
- Self-report questionnaire – online
- Self-report questionnaire – paper or computer assisted
- None
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
- Employer data
- Geographic, spatial & environmental data
- Healthcare data
- Mortality data
- Other government data
Engagement
Keywords
Consortia and dataset groups
