Population Biobank Studies: A Practical Guide

by Zhengming Chen (Editor)

Overview

This book describes some of the key epidemiological principles, scientific approaches and quality assurance frameworks required to design and conduct biobank studies in various settings. Using examples from contemporary biobanks, the book addresses the design features and practical procedures needed in order to launch and manage biobank studies, including consent and regulatory approval, the organisation of field work, management of data and biological samples, follow-up and verification of disease outcomes, development of IT systems for data collection, quality assurance and study management.

Over the last two decades, several large biobank studies have been initiated in different populations, intended to greatly enhance the development of precision medicine. Contemporary biobank studies are extremely large and complex, and involve several decades of follow-up. Such studies pose major challenges in terms of ensuring rapid recruitment, obtaining high-quality data, minimising loss to follow-up, reliably classifying disease outcomes, and optimising the use of the biological samples collected. In this regard, the key to success lies not in planning the perfect study, but in planning the most appropriate, reliable, sustainable and future-proof study given the practical constraints of available resources, time and capacity.

The authors of this handbook are epidemiologists, clinicians, software engineers, and laboratory and data scientists with extensive experience in conducting large biobank studies. The eight chapters can be read separately or together, and provide readers with essential information on how to design, implement and manage these studies. The state-of-the-art, innovative and scalable approaches and methodologies presented here are intended to stimulate the development of further population-based and hospital-based biobank studies in diverse populations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789811576683
Publisher:	Springer Nature Singapore
Publication date:	12/10/2020
Edition description:	1st ed. 2020
Pages:	202
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Zhengming Chen is a Professor of Epidemiology at the Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, UK. He qualified in Medicine at Shanghai Medical University in China in 1983 and obtained a DPhil in Epidemiology from the University of Oxford in 1992. His main research focus has been on the determinants of chronic disease and advancement of evidence-based medicine. Since the mid-1990s, he has initiated and conducted several large prospective cohort studies and randomised trials of treatment for heart attack, stroke and cancer, yielding important findings that have since changed clinical practices and health policies worldwide. Most notably, he initiated, designed and co-directs, as the UK study PI, the China Kadoorie Biobank (CKB) study of over 500,000 adults, which has applied innovative approaches and methodologies for participant recruitment, data collection, quality assurance, study management and follow-up. He currently leads a large research team in Oxford, with expertise in epidemiology, population health, genomic medicine, and data science.

Table of Contents

1 Epidemiological studies: an overview of principles and methods.- 2 Design, implementation and management of biobank studies.- 3 Planning, organisation and management of fieldwork in biobank studies.- 4 Collection, processing, and management of biological samples in biobank studies.- 5 Monitoring long-term health outcomes of biobank participants by record linkages.- 6 Verification and adjudication of health outcomes in prospective cohort studies.- 7 Development and application of IT systems in biobank studies.- 8 Management and curation of multi-dimensional data in biobank studies.

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Michael A O'Rorke, PhD (University of Iowa College of Public Health)
Description: This first edition is a literal practicum in biobanking. The shared experiences in the book skillfully provide a resource for many of the scientific and practical considerations when undertaking large population-based biobanking.
Purpose: As the foreword of this book describes, "a large study is not just a small study made larger." The industrial approach needed to successfully establish and implement a "mega-cohort" in diverse settings whilst avoiding common pitfalls goes beyond the realm of most traditional epidemiological studies and many epidemiologist skillsets. The book's contribution to knowledge is vitally important, especially in an era of "big data" and "precision medicine," two major modern-day challenges of epidemiology, wherein an ever-decreasing proportion of today's (and future) epidemiologists engage in primary data collection. This compact book is a testament to the understanding of the process through which today's "big data" is actually generated.
Audience: This book would primarily be a valuable companion aid to any clinician, scientist, or researcher with a goal of establishing and maintaining a new prospective cohort study (or modifying an existing protocol). Although I wouldn't recommend buying the text for this sole purpose, the book is much more than a pocket guide to biobanking. Chapter 1 in particular provides a very easy-to-read synopsis of epidemiological study designs, caveats, and principles, which would serve as a great reference for more novice students and researchers or anyone wishing to learn more about population health research in general.
Features: This decidedly slim text is arranged in eight chapters with 202 pages in total. Each chapter has a handy and familiar layout, opening with a contents table, list of keywords, and abbreviations, before closing with a summary of the chapter contents and a brief precis of the future chapters. The various chapters detail the key components of prospective biobank studies including information on everything from considerations in design and planning, to consent, ethics and regulatory approvals, management and organization of fieldwork, data collection and biological sample curation and storage, verification and long-term follow-up of discerned health outcomes, and the requisite IT systems and infrastructure support to provide quality assurance and ultimately project success. A minor criticism of the book is that the author and all 14 contributors are from the University of Oxford. Given the variety of large biobanks in existence today, it would be nice to have seen greater international representativeness on the contributing author list. The content presented thus draws heavily from the experiences of the author and his contributors in establishing and maintaining the China Kadoorie Biobank.
Assessment: There are already a variety of biobanking books published by Springer including Biobanking in the 21st Century, Karimi-Bushe (Springer, 2015), Biobanking of Human Biospecimens, 2nd edition, Hainaut et al. (Springer, 2021) and The Ethics of Research Biobanking, Solbakk et al. (Springer, 2009). What I like most about the current book is that it provides a condensed, one-stop resource. Aside from showcasing some of the modern developments in prospective biobanking, what this book does really well is highlight some of the caveats and practicalities that can be easily overlooked, i.e., the fact that biobank studies, while large, still may not be big enough for the assessment of rare outcomes or rare exposures, and that they do not have to be representative of their source population. The issue of regression dilution bias and the subsequent need to resurvey at least a sample of the participants with long-term follow-up, as well as the need to future-proof biological sample collection and processing are particularly well described. This is a wonderfully informative, yet compact book and an easy read.

Doody's Review Service