Checklist for One Health Epidemiological Reporting of Evidence (COHERE)

Area of Science:

• Multidisciplinary research
• Epidemiology
• Public Health

Background:

• One Health research integrates human, animal, and environmental health, but suffers from inconsistent reporting and a lack of data integration across all three domains.
• Existing One Health studies often fail to incorporate data from all essential components: human health, animal health, and environmental health.
• A need exists for standardized guidelines to improve the quality and consistency of One Health research reporting.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce the Checklist for One Health Epidemiological Reporting of Evidence (COHERE) as a standardized framework for One Health studies.
• To enhance the quality of reporting for observational and interventional epidemiological studies within the One Health framework.
• To promote the integration of knowledge and data from human, animal, and environmental health domains in research.

Main Methods:

• Development of COHERE by a multidisciplinary core writing team and an international expert review group.
• Inclusion of diverse expertise, spanning human medicine, veterinary medicine, public health, epidemiology, environmental health, and social sciences.
• COHERE comprises 19 standards covering population descriptions, environmental assessment, data integration, and analytical approaches.

Main Results:

• The COHERE checklist offers 19 specific standards to guide the design and reporting of One Health studies.
• Standards address critical aspects such as human and animal population descriptions, environmental factors, and spatial-temporal data relationships.
• The checklist emphasizes the integration of analyses and interpretation across the three health domains and the inclusion of interdisciplinary expertise.

Conclusions:

• COHERE provides a unified approach to improve the quality and consistency of One Health epidemiological research.
• Adherence to COHERE standards will facilitate better integration of data and knowledge from human, animal, and environmental health.
• The implementation of COHERE is expected to advance the scientific rigor and impact of One Health initiatives globally.