Veterans Aging
Cohort Study (VACS)
Required:
Optional based on other project funding:
Now have support through August 2016 for a total of 20 years of follow up in Virtual
Cohort and 16 years for VACS 8
VACS Cohort and Substudies
Virtual Cohort(VC)
comprised of national
data. Elements include
demographics,
diagnostic and
procedure codes, labs,
pharmacy, vital signs…
VC/Queri
pos 31000
neg 70000
Exhale
pos 200
neg 170
VC limited to
patients in 2003
or later. Includes
adjudicated MI
from IHD Queri
Virtual Cohort
pos 47,805
neg 99,061
VACS 9
pos 3790
neg 3962
DNA
pos 1600
neg 900
VACS9 is the 9 site consented
patient study with richer data.
Includes surveys, adjudicated
outcomes for cancer, mi, liver
disease, site downloaded data
Biomarkers
pos 1500
neg 800
CVD
pos 209
neg117
Includes
Ddimer, IL6,
sCD14
3 VACS sites
only.
Includes
GXT, CT and
echo data
Virtual Cohort (VC)

SUBJECTS: 47,805 HIV infected; 99,061 uninfected




All individuals with HIV diagnoses
Age, race/ethnicity, region 2:1 matched controls
Last updated: September 2014
Next update: Currently in progress

SITES: All VA sites

BASELINE: 1998 (15 years of follow up)


HIV infected veterans at initiation of HIV care
Controls selected and followed in same calendar year
VACS 9

CURRENT DATA SOURCES (all VC sources plus)
 All VA Electronic medical records including text fields
 Sentinel event records (MI) requested outside VA
 DNA and tissue bank (subset of 2,300 patients)
 Self completed surveys (health behaviors, quality of life,
symptoms, outside utilization, etc.) every 12-18 months

SUBJECTS: 3,790 HIV infected; 3,962 uninfected
 Group matched: age, race/ethnicity, and site
 Last updated October 16, 2013

SITES: Atlanta1, Bronx1, Houston1, Los Angeles1, New York1,
Baltimore2, Washington DC2, Pittsburgh3, Dallas4, Nashville5
**

1. 2002-present, 2. 2003-present, 3. 2003-present, 4. 2012-present, 5. 2015-present
BASELINE: 2002 (11 years)
National VACS/COMpAAAS
Project Team 2014
Steering Committee
Kendall Bryant, PhD, Director
Nancy Day, PhD
David Leaf, MD
Stephen Maisto, PhD
Patrick O’Connor, MD, PhD
David Rimland, MD
Charles Rinaldo, MD
Jeffrey Samet, MD, PhD
COMpAAAS
Amy C. Justice, MD, PhD
Consortium PI
Angela Consorte, Director
Administrative Core
Scott Braithwaite, MD, MSc, Director
Operations
Research Core
Cynthia Brandt, MD, MPH, Director
Joseph Erdos, MD, PhD, Co-Director
Medical Informatics Core
Site PIs:
Atlanta: V Marconi, MD
Baltimore: M Sajadi, MD
Bronx: S Brown, MD
Brooklyn/Manhattan: M Simberkoff, MD
Dallas: R Bedimo, MD
Houston: M Rodriguez-Barradas, MD
Los Angeles: M Goetz, MD
Nashville: T Hulgan, MD
Pittsburgh: A Butt, MD
Washington, D.C: C Gibert, MD
David Fiellin, MD, Director
Alcohol and Behavioral
Intervention Core
Janet Tate, ScD, MPH, Director
Biostatistics Core
Cores (supported by other grants): Directors
Cancer Disease: L Park, PhD, MPH & K Sigel, MD
Cardiovascular Disease: M Freiberg, MD, MSc
Liver Disease: V LoRe, MD & J Tate, ScD, MPH
Pulmonary Disease: K Crothers, MD
Translational Research: C Rinaldo, MD & M Freiberg, MD, MSc
Workgroups: Directors
ART: N Gandhi, MD & J Tate, ScD, MPH
Endocrine and Bone Disease: J Womack, APRN, PhD
Health Services Research: E Wang, MD & K McGinnis, MS
Kidney Disease: F P Wilson, MD
Opioids: J Edelman, MD
Physical Function and Disability: KA Oursler, MD
Polypharmacy: A Justice, MD, PhD & J Edelman, MD
Risk Index: A Justice, MD, PhD & J Tate, ScD, MPH
Statins: R Bedimo, MD & J Tate, ScD, MPH
Uniform Services: V Marconi, MD
Acknowledgements

Consortium PI : AC Justice*

Scientific Collaborator (NIAAA): K Bryant

Affiliated PIs: S Braithwaite, K Crothers*, R Dubrow, DA Fiellin*, M Freiberg*, V LoRe*, K
Kraemer

Participating VA Medical Centers: Atlanta (V Marconi*), Baltimore (M Sajadi, R Titanji), Bronx
(S Brown, Y Ponomarenko), Dallas (R Bedimo*), Houston (M Rodriguez-Barradas, N Masozera),
Los Angeles (M Goetz, D Leaf), Manhattan-Brooklyn (M Simberkoff, D Blumenthal, H Leaf, J
Leung), Pittsburgh (A Butt, K Kraemer, E Hoffman), and Washington DC (C Gibert, R Peck)

Core and Workgroup Chairs: B Agan, W Becker, C Brandt, J Edelman, N Gandhi, B Gulanski, K
McGinnis, KA Oursler, L Park, C Rinaldo, K Sigel, J Tate, E Wang, F P Wilson, J Womack

Staff: H Bathulapalli, T Bohan, J Ciarleglio, A Consorte, L Erickson, S Felter, C Frank, K Gordon,
J Huston, F Kidwai-Khan, G Koerbel, F Levin, S Shahrir, M Skanderson

Major Collaborators: VA Public Health Strategic Healthcare Group, VA Pharmacy Benefits
Management, Massachusetts Veterans Epidemiology Research and Information Center
(MAVERIC), Yale Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS (CIRA), Center for Health Equity
Research and Promotion (CHERP), ART-CC, NA-ACCORD, HIV-Causal

Cross Cohort Collaborators: Richard Moore (NA-ACCORD), Jonathan Sterne (ART-CC), Brian
Agan (DoD), Miguel Hernan (HIV-Causal)

Major Funding by: National Institutes of Health: AHRQ (R01-HS018372), NIAAA (U24AA020794, U01-AA020790, U01-AA020795, U01-AA020799, U24-AA022001, U24 AA022007,
R01-AA023733, R01AA022886, U10 AA013566-completed), NHLBI (R01-HL125032, RO1HL126555, R01-HL095136-completed, R01-HL090342-completed) , NIAID (U01-A1069918),
NIDA (R01DA035616, R03DA031592), NCI (R01 CA173754) and the Veterans Health
Administration Office of Research and Development (VA REA 08-266, VA IRR Merit Award) and
Office of Academic Affiliations (Medical Informatics Fellowship)
*Indicates individual is also the Chair of a Core or Workgroup
Acknowledgements
Continued

Other Notable Funding: Career Development Awards: Veterans Health Administration: VISN 1
CDA (V1CDA2012-20), HSR&D CDA-2 (08-276); National Institutes of Health: NINR
(1K01R013437), NCRR/NCATS (5UL1RR024139), NIDA (1K12DA033312-01A1,
8UL1TR000142, 1R03DA031592)

COMpAAAS/Veterans Aging Cohort Study, a CHAART Cooperative Agreement,
supported by the National Institutes of Health: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse
and Alcoholism (U24-AA020794, U01-AA020790, U01-AA020795, U01-AA020799;
U10 AA013566-completed) and in kind by the US Department of Veterans Affairs. In
addition to grant support from NIAAA, we gratefully acknowledge the scientific
contributions of Dr. Kendall Bryant, our scientific collaborator.
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