• Jiping Tan, Nan Li, Jing Gao, Yuhe Guo, Wei Hu, Jinsheng Yang, Baocheng Yu, Jianmin Yu, Wei Du, Wenjun Zhang, Lianqi Cui, Qingsong Wang, Xiangnan Xia, Jianjun Li, Peiyi Zhou, Baohe Zhang, Zhiying Liu, Shaogang Zhang, Lanying Sun, Nan Liu, Ruixiang Deng, Wenguang Dai, Fang Yi, Wenjun Chen, Yongqing Zhang, Shenwu Xue, Bo Cui, Yiming Zhao, and Luning Wang.
• Department of Geriatric Neurology, Chinese People's Liberation Army General Hospital, Beijing 100853, China.
• Chin. Med. J. 2014 Jan 1; 127 (3): 448456448-56.

BackgroundBased on the excellent medical care and management system for Chinese veterans, as well as the detailed medical documentation available, we aim to construct a Chinese Veteran Clinical Research (CVCR) platform on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and carry out studies of the primary disabling NCDs.MethodsThe Geriatric Neurology Department of Chinese People's Liberation Army General Hospital and veterans' hospitals serve as the leading and participating units in the platform construction. The fundamental constituents of the platform are veteran communities. Stratified typical cluster sampling is adopted to recruit veteran communities. A cross-sectional study of mental, neurological, and substance use (MNS) disorders are performed in two stages using screening scale such as the Mini-Mental State Examination and Montreal cognitive assessment, followed by systematic neuropsychological assessments to make clinical diagnoses, evaluated disease awareness and care situation.ResultsA total of 9 676 among 277 veteran communities from 18 cities are recruited into this platform, yielding a response rate of 83.86%. 8 812 subjects complete the MNS subproject screening and total response rate is 91.70%. The average participant age is (82.01±4.61) years, 69.47% of veterans are 80 years or older. Most participants are male (94.01%), 83.36% of subjects have at least a junior high school degree. The overall health status of veterans is good and stable. The most common NCD are cardiovascular disorders (86.44%), urinary and genital diseases (73.14%), eye and ear problems (66.25%), endocrine (56.56%) and neuro-psychiatric disturbances (50.78%).ConclusionWe first construct a veterans' comprehensive clinical research platform for the study of NCDs that is primarily composed of highly educated Chinese males of advanced age and utilize this platform to complete a cross-sectional national investigation of MNS disorders among veterans. The good and stable health condition of the veterans could facilitate the long-term follow-up studies of NCDs and provide prospective data to the prevention and management of NCDs.

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