Management of incidental findings in the study of health in pomerania

Abstract

The Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP) is a population-based cohort study in the north-east of Germany, consisting of two independent cohorts, SHIP and SHIP-TREND (Volzke et al. 2011). Adults, selected from local population registries, aged 20–79, with their primary place of residence in the counties of Nordvorpommern and Ostvorpommern and the two cities of Greifswald and Stralsund, were eligible for participation. Baseline examinations of the first cohort were performed between 1997 and 2001 (SHIP-0) and follow-up examinations between 2002 and 2006 (SHIP-1), 2008–2012 (SHIP-2), and 2014–2016 (SHIP-3). A second cohort (SHIP-Trend) was conducted from 2008 until 2012; the first follow-up (SHIP-Trend 1) has started in March 2016.