Home

New! 1st questionnaire data available for you!

Are you a scientific researcher? C-SURF data is ready to be handed over to you. Click here to get further information.

Cohort Study

C-SURF is a cohort study directed by the Centre hospitalier universitaire vaudois (CHUV) in Lausanne and the Social and Preventive Medicine Institute at Zürich University in Switzerland. It started in 2010 and is still running today, thanks to the financial support of the Swiss National Research Foundation.

   A cohort study seeks to follow the progression of a group's behaviour by involving members recurrently in the long run (18 months in the first phase, then 5 years or beyond, according to funding).

What is it about and who participates?

All young men at the army recruitment centers in Lausanne (VD), Windisch (AG) and Mels (SG), Switzerland, were invited to participate in this cohort study. It is about:

• their socioprofessional background;
• their consumption of tobacco, alcohol, cannabis and other drugs;
• their knowledge about health and other health-related aspects.

Incentives

In the first phase, participants are financially rewarded along with their involvement in the study. Any participant who takes part in all 4 stages (18 months) earns all in all CHF 100.- (vouchers in various shops).

Confidentiality

No personal information at all is communicated to the army or to anybody other than the research team. Personal information and answers to the questionnaires are kept highly confidential at all stages. They are secured under an anonymous coding system. Only project coordinators have access to participants' names and contact details. Any participant is free to turn invitations down or give up at any time.

Further information can be found here on:

• study description
• study process
• news & infos regarding 1st questionnaire data
• available data
• research collaborations
• projects and publications
• how to contact us

This website is available in French, German and English.