Cohort profile: the GAZEL Cohort Study

Abstract

EDF-GDF) is the only utility firm in France involved in production, transmission and distribution of energy. For several reasons, EDF-GDF is a unique setting for epidemiology. The company employs about 150,000 workers in all regions of France, from large cities to small villages; there is a wide socioeconomic range of occupational positions, including white and blue-collars workers. The workforce is very stable due to their civil servant-like status, employees almost never leave the company and are not lost to follow-up even after retirement, since retirement benefits are paid by the company itself. An extensive human resources system allows for a complete follow-up of the workers, even when they retire. EDF-GDF has its own Occupational Health and Social Security system; about 300 physicians work for the company and are responsible for the health surveillance of the workers.During the seventies the medical department of EDF-GDF decided to build a comprehensive data base on the health of the workforce. The data base was designed in close collaboration with researchers at INSERM -the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research -Research Unit 88, directed at that time by one of us who was also a Scientific advisor for the medical department of the company (MG). The data base contained demographic, socioeconomic and professional data on each worker. An exhaustive register of sick leave, accidents, permanent disabilities, compensated diseases, causes of death, cancer and coronary heart disease incidence among active workers was created. Further, a jobexposure matrix was established for 30 potentially carcinogenic agents 1,2 . Using these data bases several epidemiological studies on working accidents, sick leave, cancer and mortality were carried out [3][4][5][6][7][8] . However the absence of individual level data on lifestyle, self-reported

Social engagement across the retirement transition among “young-old” adults in the French GAZEL cohort

“…The study was conducted in GAZEL, a socioeconomically diverse, longitudinal occupational cohort of French gas and electricity workers (Goldberg et al 2007(Goldberg et al , 2014. The cohort was established in 1989 among 20,625 professionally active employees of the French national gas and electricity company (EDF-GDF), aged 35-50 at inception; each year, participants are mailed a self-report questionnaire with questions about their work and non-work exposures, health behaviors, and health outcomes.…”

The combined effects of parental divorce and parental history of depression on cannabis use in young adults in France

“…These young adults are children of participants of the ongoing GAZEL cohort study (Goldberg et al, 2007). In 1991, all GAZEL participants took part in the GAZEL Youth Study, which aimed to assess the prevalence of mental health problems and access to health care in children (Fombonne and Vermeersch, 1997).…”

High prevalence rates of tobacco, alcohol and drug use in adolescents and young adults in France: Results from the GAZEL Youth study

“…As previously described, participating youths were recruited in 1991, via their parents, who take part in an ongoing epidemiological study: the GAZEL cohort (Fombonne & Vermeersch, 1997;Goldberg et al, 2007 ). The GAZEL Youth study sample was selected to represent the socio-demographic characteristics of French youths.…”