Cohort Profile: The Maule Cohort (MAUCO)
Catterina Ferreccio, Andrea Huidobro, Sandra Cortés, Claudia Bambs, Pablo Toro, Vanessa Van De Wyngard, Johanna Acevedo, Fabio Paredes, Pía Venegas, Hugo Verdejo, Ximena Oyarzún‐González, Paz Cook, Pablo Castro, Claudia Foerster, Claudio Vargas, Jill Koshiol, Juan Carlos Araya, Francisco Cruz‐Quintana, Alejandro H. Corvalán, Andrew F. G. Quest, Marcelo J. Kogan, Sergio Lavandero, for the MAUCO Study Group
Abstract
The Maule Cohort (MAUCO) is the first prospective population-based cohort of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer in central Chile. The rationale for this cohort is based on the social, environmental and health characteristics of an under-studied rural population at high risk for chronic diseases. Chile is regarded as a model for social and economic transition in Latin America. Nevertheless, Chile's progress and economic growth hide persistent inequalities. 2 Poverty rates have declined from 38.6% in 1990 to 20.7% in 2017, when a large proportion of the population was still living in poverty based on their education, health care, employment, social security and housing conditions. In Chile, as in other Latin American countries, obesity, CVD and cancer have reached epidemic levels, disproportionately affecting people with lower socioeconomic status and overshadowing the national progress. Chilean cross-sectional national health surveys