Explore ECHORN Frequently Asked Questions

  • The ECHORN cohort study looks at risk and protective factors for diseases like diabetes, cancer, and heart disease. It is funded by the National Institute for Minority Health Disparities (NIMHD). Nearly 3,000 Caribbean adults (ages 40 and up) participate in the study. Participants come from four islands: Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Barbados, and Trinidad & Tobago. They take surveys about factors that may affect their health, like diet, movement, drinking, smoking, and access to care. They visit clinics to measure blood pressure, weight, and blood sugar levels. ECHORN cohort study data helps to illustrate the current health of the Caribbean.

  • Explore ECHORN includes data collected from 2013-2018:
    · Demographic information about our study participants like age, gender, and island of residence
    · Results about how many people have been diagnosed with diseases like diabetes, cancer, and hypertension
    · Information on nutrition and health behaviors like smoking or drinking alcohol
    · Information about family histories of illness
    · Information about social experiences like feeling safe or having someone to listen to you
    · Information about access to healthcare

    The Explore ECHORN glossary lists the survey questions and associated responses for each data point.

  • You can use Explore ECHORN to look up descriptive information, like how many study participants have been diagnosed with diabetes. You can organize this information by, gender, age, or any other study variable. You can also view and explore relationships between study variables. For example, you could look up how many study participants who have been diagnosed with diabetes also have health insurance.

    You can download the information you research as a chart or a table.

  • We use a login system to help maintain the security of the data platform. The registrations also help us learn more about how ECHORN data could be useful for Caribbean educational, advocacy, research, or health efforts.

  • No. The data in Explore ECHORN is aggregated, or summarized, at the population level. You cannot look up the information from one person.

  • Explore ECHORN provides a limited view of data collected during the first wave (2013-2018) of the ECHORN cohort study. Requests for expanded variables or custom datasets should be submitted to the ECHORN Data Access and Scientific Review (DASR) Committee.

  • Yes. Any and all use of ECHORN data must be cited. You can use this citation:

    Eastern Caribbean Health Outcomes Research Network. (2022). Explore ECHORN [Data set]. New Haven, Connecticut, USA: Yale Center for Medical Informatics.

  • Send us an email - we are happy to help you with Explore ECHORN.