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Mexico City Prospective Study

Established 1998-2004

150,000 participants

Collaboration between the National Autonomous University of Mexico and CTSU

Street scene in Mexico City

background

The Mexico City Prospective Study (MCPS) is the largest blood-based prospective study of the health of a Latin-American population. The study offers an opportunity to investigate how social, lifestyle, physical, metabolic and genetic factors influence the major causes of death in Mexican adults in a large cohort that has already been followed for two decades.

Between 1998 and 2004, over 150,000 middle-aged adults including 100,000 women from the Coyoacán and Iztapalapa districts of Mexico City were recruited. They gave information about their lifestyle and disease history, had physical measurements taken, such as blood pressure, weight, waist and hip circumference, and provided blood samples.

A resurvey of 10,000 surviving participants was completed between 2015 and 2019. It captured how lifestyles, physical and biological measurements and treatments for disease had changed over time. This allowed us to better assess how factors including blood pressure and smoking are related to premature death. We also collected urine samples and additional information such as bioimpedance (providing measures of body fat) and cognitive function.

A follow up health survey is currently collecting information on major non-fatal diseases by house-to-house field work.

Using blood samples we have genotyped and exome sequenced all participants. We have also compiled metabolomic data including cholesterol fractions and triglycerides for all participants at baseline and those who provided a blood sample at resurvey. All participants are tracked for mortality through linkage to Mexican national mortality records. By mid 2022 about 30,000 were confirmed to have died.

team in mexico city

Jesύs Alegre-Dίaz
Study Principal Investigator and Professor of Epidemiology
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Jaime Berumen Campos
Study Principal Investigator and Professor of Molecular Genetics
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Pablo Antonio Kuri Morales
Study Principal Investigator, surgeon and epidemiologist,
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Consultant and Director of the OriGen Project at the Tecnológico de Monterrey

Roberto Tapia Conyer
Study Principal Investigator and Public Health Physician
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Paulina Baca Peynado
Genetic Epidemiologist
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Elizabeth Barrera Sanchez
PhD candidate
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Oscar Castillo Tapia
Geographer
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Georgina Del Vecchyo Tenorio
Research Assistant
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Adrián Garcilazo Ávila
PhD candidate
Universidad del Valle de Atemajac

Ruperto Garcia Ávila
Supervisor, Field Work Team
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Catalina Gasca Velázquez
Supervisor, Field Work Team
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Carlos González Carballo
PhD candidate
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Francisco Javier García González
Assistant Supervisor, Field Work Team
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Guadalupe América Juárez Salazar
Head Supervisor, Field Work Team
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Ricxary Mendoza González
Geographer
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Rogelio Santacruz Benítez
Head Geographer
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Carlos Lira Saturno
Research Assistant
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Carlos Alberto Pantoja Meléndez
Genetic Epidemiologist
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Karina Adriana Ramos Pérez
Supervisor, Field Work Team
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Raύl Ramirez Reyes
Computer Systems Programmer
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Gabriela Rivera Arredondo
Supervisor, Field Work Team
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Fernando Javier Rivas Reyes
Programmer
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Alberto Zarza Vela
PhD candidate
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Team in Oxford

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Funding

Medical Research Council

British Heart Foundation

Wellcome 

Mexican Ministry of Health

Mexican National Council of Science and Technology

Study oversight

The MCPS represents a longstanding collaboration between researchers from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City, who conceived and established the study, and the Nuffield Department of Population Health in Oxford, who provided support during its inception and have continued to enhance it over the years. This collaborative effort dates back to the 1990s, with both teams jointly responsible for managing and analysing the study's data.

DATA ACCESS

We welcome requests from researchers to access data from MCPS. In an effort to increase research equity MCPS releases data to researchers in Mexico two years before releasing it worldwide. Find out how to access our data.

Navigation

Selected publications

Related research themes

Prospective studies
Prospective studies
The link between smoking and lung cancer was originally discovered by Sir Richard Doll in 1956. Sir Richard Peto has continued to study the impact of tobacco of global health (see video). Smoking cigarettes is a leading cause of premature death worldwide. There were about 100 million deaths from tobacco in the 20th century, most in developed countries. If current smoking patterns persist, it is estimated that tobacco will kill about 1 billion people this century, mostly in low- and middle-income countries, and about half of these deaths will occur before age 70.
Smoking
The Global Burden of Disease 2010 study attributed more deaths to high blood pressure than to any other risk factor. Blood pressure is a well-established risk factor for vascular disease, but important questions remain about its importance in different patient groups and for different clinical outcomes.
Blood pressure
Diabetes mellitus is a group of metabolic disorders in which there are high blood sugars over a prolonged period. Rates of type-2 (or adult onset) diabetes have increased rapidly in recent decades due to changes in diet and other lifestyle factors. Patients with diabetes are at increased risk of a number of diseases, most notably cardiovascular disease, kidney disease and damage to the eyes.
Diabetes mellitus