Cohort profile: the National Early Gastrointestinal Cancer Cohort (NEGCC) study in China

Gastrointestinal cancers represent a significant public health burden in China. Current evidence regarding treatment approaches for early-stage gastrointestinal malignancies predominantly derives from case reports and small-scale studies. Furthermore, existing gastrointestinal disease cohorts primarily focus on community-based screening or high-risk populations, leaving a substantial gap in systematically collected data from hospitalized early stage cancer patients.

We established the National Early Gastrointestinal Cancer Cohort (NEGCC), which constitutes, to our knowledge, one of the most comprehensive multicenter cohorts of hospitalized early gastrointestinal cancer patients in China and Asia. This initiative has been complemented by the development of a dedicated clinical platform, an integrated database, a biorepository, and a health economic evaluation framework. The study enrolled patients who underwent surgical resection for early gastrointestinal cancer at participating institutions between January 1, 2015, and June 30, 2023, with planned follow-up continuing until December 31, 2026. Standardized data collection includes comprehensive baseline characteristics, treatment parameters, and prospective outcome measures, integrated through a centralized electronic registry ( https://bjdigest.sino-med.net ).

The initial dataset comprises 3,348 patients who underwent surgical management at the PLA General Hospital between January 2015 and December 2019. The cohort had a male predominance (73.7%), with a mean age of 60.9 ± 10.3 years (range: 19-93). Most participants were married (98.7%), and 31.8% had medical insurance coverage.

The NEGCC initiative provides a robust platform for generating high-quality evidence on early gastrointestinal cancer management. This resource will facilitate the development of improved diagnostic and therapeutic strategies, inform clinical practice guidelines, and enable the identification of disease-specific biomarkers. Additionally, the cohort will support rigorous health economic analyses to identify cost-effective treatment approaches, ultimately aiming to improve outcomes for patients with early gastrointestinal cancer.