This section provides some background information on the Mexico City Prospective Study (MCPS), information on how to access study data and instructions on using this Data Showcase resource.

Background information on the MCPS study

Between 1998 and 2004, over 150,000 middle-aged adults from two districts of Mexico City (including 100,000 women and 50,000 men) provided information about their lifestyle and disease history, had physical measurements recorded (including weight, waist and hip circumference, blood pressure) and had a blood sample taken.

Between 2015 and 2019, a resurvey of 10,000 surviving participants captured how lifestyles, physical and biological measurements and treatments for disease (e.g. diabetes) have changed over time. In addition to asking similar questions and taking similar measurements as at baseline, the resurvey included several 'enhancements' (including bioimpedance measures, an assessment of cognitive function and the collection of a urine sample).

All participants are tracked for mortality through linkage to Mexican national mortality records. By January 2021, over 28,000 were confirmed to have died. Consequently, MCPS now offers the opportunity to study, within a single large cohort that has already been followed for two decades, how social, lifestyle, physical, metabolic and genetic factors influence the major causes of death in Mexican adults.

Study oversight, funding and further information

The MCPS represents a long-standing collaboration between researchers from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City and the Nuffield Department of Population Health in Oxford, who jointly set up the study in the 1990s and have worked together on it ever since (with copies of the data held and analysed by both groups). During that time, the study has received funding from the Mexican Ministry of Health (Secretaria de Salud), the Mexican National Council of Science and Technology (Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia), the British Heart Foundation, the UK Medical Research Council, and the UK Wellcome Trust.

For further information:

Requesting data: MCPS Data and Sample Access policy

The Data and Sample Access policy (available in both English and Spanish) gives full details on how to apply for access to MCPS study data, including details on the data available only to researchers from Mexico.

You can email us at mcps-access@ndph.ox.ac.uk with any specific queries about data access or about the study in general.

How to use the MCPS Data Showcase

Please use this Data Showcase in order to explore the variables available in the study database.

User guide (English): Getting started with the Showcase

User guide (Spanish): Getting started with the Showcase

** New data now available to researchers based in Mexico **

Genetic data are available for 9,950 whole genome sequenced, 141,046 exome sequenced and 140,831 genotyped participants. An online variant browser summarising the genetic variation is available at: https://rgc-mcps.regeneron.com. The genetic data will be shared by granting access to an online research analysis platform enabled by DNAnexus technology and powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS), where researchers will be able to access both the genetic and non-genetic data and perform their analyses.