Over 80,000 people registered to take part in the ABC study via the online portal between late 2014 and 2018. By the end of recruitment, 56,345 people (59% female) had completed all questionnaires and 51,480 people also provided a saliva sample, so that DNA could be extracted. A subset of these participants was also invited to provide a blood sample for future research using biomarkers, with a total of 10,332 attending a pathology laboratory near their home to do so. A further subset of 4,238 of these also agreed to contribute data to a pilot study of physical movement; they wore two devices for 7 consecutive days to assess their activity during the day and movement during their sleep at night.
Together, the 56,345 initial respondents who completed all recruitment questionnaires form the cohort of participants in the ABC Study. You have received this newsletter because you are one of them. We thank you for your ongoing support of the study.
Below we provide some summary characteristics of the cohort:
Hover over the graph to see all figures.
Cohort studies are a long-term proposition; the ABC Study will follow the health of participants over the next 20-30 years to support research into how our lifestyle and environment combine with our genes to cause cancer and other diseases. The study also aims to improve our ability to predict the risk of an individual developing cancer, which will lead to more precise approaches to screening for the presence of cancer and better targeted cancer prevention strategies and public health messages.
The first wave of follow-up (FUP1) commenced in 2019 and initially included questionnaires for participants to update information about a core set of lifestyle related factors such as body size, alcohol consumption and physical activity and to provide new information on other factors, such as consumption of sugar-sweetened and other beverages. However, Cancer Council Victoria received funding to complete a pilot study of faecal (poo) sample collection for the future study of the human gut microbiome and its role in health and disease – this small study demonstrated that ABC Study participants were willing and able to provide a viable sample through the post. Since then, all ABC Study participants have also been invited to complete faecal sampling. A total of 36,514 participants (65% of the original cohort) completed the FUP1 questionnaires. A smaller percentage (26% (N=14,960)) provided faecal samples, at least in part due to challenges in CCV staff attending the office to prepare sampling kits during COVID-19 pandemic-related lockdowns in 2020 and 2021.
The second wave of follow-up (FUP2) was launched in 2022 and includes questionnaires with elements to update information on core lifestyle factors, as well as new information on health conditions, medication use, COVID-19-related factors and sleep health. We are also inviting participants to provide a faecal and blood sample, if they have not already done so. As of October 2023, we have invited 36,546 people to participate in FUP2, with 16,253 (45%) having completed the questionnaires. Across all rounds of contact (recruitment, FUP1 and FUP2), 20,783 (37%) participants have provided a blood sample and 25,786 (46%) have provided a faecal sample.
We would love to see these numbers increase. If you have received an invitation to participate in FUP2, we encourage you to opt-in to the study by logging into our website at https://www.abcstudy.com.au/. We anticipate that the third wave of follow-up (FUP3) will commence in 2026.
The ABC Study is a unique platform of high-quality data and samples that will support research nationally and internationally to prevent cancer and detect it as early as possible, when it can be most effectively treated. We will continue to expand this resource over the following decades. Research using the information you provide could take several years to complete, but we should start to see scientific outputs in the next year.
Periodically, we may contact you to invite you to participate in other studies approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of Cancer Council Victoria. You are not obligated to take part in these and can opt out at any time by following the instructions on the invitation, or by contacting the ABC Study Team at 1800 688 419.
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