Population-Based Psychiatric Study in Lausanne

PsyCoLaus is a psychiatric study conducted in a population-based cohort assessed for cardiovascular risk factors (CoLaus) (see [47 (link)] for detailed description). In brief, the CoLaus study, which was based on a sample of 6,738 individuals randomly selected from the list of residents of the city of Lausanne (Switzerland), assessed CVD risk factors and collected DNA and plasma samples for the study of genetic variants and biomarkers. Lausanne is the 5th largest city of Switzerland, localized in the French speaking part of the country. Foreigners mostly from other central European countries represent about a third of the population of Lausanne. This proportion is comparable to that of other Swiss cities, but higher than the average of approximately 20% in the whole country. Compared to other European countries, the Swiss population is relatively stable favoring the completion of prospective follow-up studies, such as the Zurich cohort study, over decades [48 (link)].
The present study (PsyCoLaus), based on the CoLaus sample, included a semi-structured diagnostic interview and a number of self-rating instruments that evaluated personality traits, attitudes, functioning and sleep patterns.