The German National Pandemic Cohort Network (NAPKON): rationale, study design and baseline characteristics
Creators: name: Schons, Maximilian
name: Pilgram, Lisa
name: Reese, Jens-Peter
name: Stecher, Melanie
name: Anton, Gabriele
name: Appel, Katharina S.
name: Bahmer, Thomas
name: Bartschke, Alexander
name: Bellinghausen, Carla
name: Bernemann, Inga
name: Brechtel, Markus
name: Brinkmann, Folke
name: Brünn, Clara
name: Dhillon, Christine
name: Fiessler, Cornelia
name: Geisler, Ramsia
name: Hamelmann, Eckard
name: Hansch, Stefan
name: Hanses, Frank
name: Hanß, Sabine
name: Herold, Susanne
name: Heyder, Ralf
name: Hofmann, Anna-Lena
name: Hopff, Sina Marie
name: Horn, Anna
name: Jakob, Carolin
name: Jiru-Hillmann, Steffi
name: Keil, Thomas
name: Khodamoradi, Yascha
name: Kohls, Mirjam
name: Kraus, Monika
name: Krefting, Dagmar
name: Kunze, Sonja
name: Kurth, Florian
name: Lieb, Wolfgang
name: Lippert, Lena Johanna
name: Lorbeer, Roberto
name: Lorenz-Depiereux, Bettina
name: Maetzler, Corina
name: Miljukov, Olga
name: Nauck, Matthias
name: Pape, Daniel
name: Püntmann, Valentina
name: Reinke, Lennart
name: Römmele, Christoph
name: Rudolph, Stefanie
name: Sass, Julian
name: Schäfer, Christian
name: Schaller, Jens
name: Schattschneider, Mario
name: Scheer, Christian
name: Scherer, Margarete
name: Schmidt, Sein
name: Schmidt, Julia
name: Seibel, Kristina
name: Stahl, Dana
name: Steinbeis, Fridolin
name: Störk, Stefan
name: Tauchert, Maike
name: Tebbe, Johannes Josef
name: Thibeault, Charlotte
name: Toepfner, Nicole
name: Ungethüm, Kathrin
name: Vadasz, Istvan
name: Valentin, Heike
name: Wiedmann, Silke
name: Zoller, Thomas
name: Nagel, Eike
name: Krawczak, Michael
name: von Kalle, Christof
name: Illig, Thomas
name: Schreiber, Stefan
name: Witzenrath, Martin
name: Heuschmann, Peter
name: Vehreschild, Jörg Janne
Publisher: name: Universität Regensburg
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: COVID-19; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; Prospective national cohort; Longitudinal study; Epidemiology; Cross-sectoral; Population-based
subject: 610 Medizin

description: The German government initiated the Network University Medicine (NUM) in early 2020 to improve national research activities on the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic. To this end, 36 German Academic Medical Centers started to collaborate on 13 projects, with the largest being the National Pandemic Cohort Network (NAPKON). The NAPKON's goal is creating the most comprehensive Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) cohort in Germany. Within NAPKON, adult and pediatric patients are observed in three complementary cohort platforms (Cross-Sectoral, High-Resolution and Population-Based) from the initial infection until up to three years of follow-up. Study procedures comprise comprehensive clinical and imaging diagnostics, quality-of-life assessment, patient-reported outcomes and biosampling. The three cohort platforms build on four infrastructure core units (Interaction, Biosampling, Epidemiology, and Integration) and collaborations with NUM projects. Key components of the data capture, regulatory, and data privacy are based on the German Centre for Cardiovascular Research. By April 01, 2022, 34 university and 40 non-university hospitals have enrolled 5298 patients with local data quality reviews performed on 4727 (89%). 47% were female, the median age was 52 (IQR 36-62-) and 50 pediatric cases were included. 44% of patients were hospitalized, 15% admitted to an intensive care unit, and 12% of patients deceased while enrolled. 8845 visits with biosampling in 4349 patients were conducted by April 03, 2022. In this overview article, we summarize NAPKON's design, relevant milestones including first study population characteristics, and outline the potential of NAPKON for German and international research activities.