The SCCS is a study of cancer and other major diseases.  The SCCS is unique in that participants were recruited predominantly from community health centers in the southeastern United States.  Findings from the SCCS are helping to increase our understanding of the causes of cancer and other major diseases.  

Cancer is the leading cause of death among Americans aged 40-79.  Certain groups, such as African Americans, the poor, or those living in particular geographical areas, experience a disproportionately high burden of cancer for reasons that are only partly understood.  This burden includes having a higher probability of getting cancer or a higher chance of dying from cancer once diagnosed.  These types of health disparities could have many causes – some rooted in environmental exposures within and beyond one’s control and some biologically or genetically based.  It is likely that a combination of factors is involved, and that the reasons for differing cancer burden vary for each type of cancer.

The Southern Community Cohort Study (SCCS), funded by the National Cancer Institute and initiated in 2001, was established to address many unresolved questions about the root causes of cancer health disparities, with its findings expected to help prevent and reduce the burden of cancer among all populations.  This prospective cohort study of approximately 85,000 adults in the southeastern United States has among the highest representation of African Americans (two-thirds) among existing U.S. cohorts and a large biorepository poised to address scientific questions about the causes of both common and rare cancers (as well as of chronic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease).

The SCCS is conducted by a collaborative team of scientists at Vanderbilt University, Meharry Medical College , and the International Epidemiology Institute.  Outside scientific collaborations are welcome and encouraged.
 Picture
Did you know... The largest group of SCCS participants, over 16,000, joined from the state of Alabama.
Study participants were also recruited in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.