VA Cooperative Studies Program (CSP)

Investigator Access

What's Available

Check with the study contact and publications for information on a public dataset, data archive, data enclave, or website where data might be available.

Available Documentation

Study Characteristics 

Objectives

• Identify the genetic basis of Veterans developing either of two major psychiatric diseases, schizophrenia and bipolar I disorder
• Assess the genetic basis for functional capacity and disability in Veterans affected with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder
• Determine the genetic predictors of suicidality and posttraumatic stress disorder
• Establish a repository which allows for future genomic studies related to schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and related disorders or sequelae

Era of Service

All

Population

Case participants: Veterans with a confirmed diagnosis of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder who use Veterans Health Administration (VHA) medical centers

Control participants: Psychiatrically healthy Veterans enrolled in VA Million Veteran Program (MVP)

Study Design 

Case-control (genomic)

Time Period 

2011 - 2014

Setting 

National

N

9,356 participants (5,414 participants with bipolar I disorder and 3,942 participants with schizophrenia)

Response Rate

98.5% overall (114% cases with schizophrenia; 83% cases with bipolar I disorder)

Recruitment Method    

Patients of VA medical centers were identified with medical record information or referred from their clinicians. Potential participants were then sent an invitational mailing from the local site investigator to assess their interest in participating in a VA research study.

Compensation

$60

Data Collected

• Demographics
• Neuropsychological and functional capacity measures (e.g., processing speed, verbal working memory, reasoning, problem solving)
• DNA from blood samples
• Suicidal behaviors

Data Collection Methods

Participants were diagnosed with a structured clinical interview, examined for the presence of co-morbidities, and tested in-person with performance-based assessments of neuropsychological and functional capacity.

Funding Sources 

VA Cooperative Studies Program (CSP)

Investigators

Unconfirmed

Contact 

Alysia Maffucci, Alysia.Maffucci@va.gov 

Selected Publications 

Aslan M, Radhakrishnan K, Rajeevan N, Sueiro M, Goulet JL, Li Y, Depp C, Concato J, Harvey PD. Suicidal ideation, behavior, and mortality in male and female US veterans with severe mental illness. Journal of Affective Disorders. 2020 Apr; 267: 144-152.

Harvey PD, L.J. Siever, G.D. Huang, S. Muralidhar, H. Zhao, P. Miller, Aslan M, Mane S, McNamara M, Gleason T, Brophy M, Przygodszki R, O'Leary TJ, Gaziano M, Concato J. The genetics of functional disability in schizophrenia and bipolar illness: methods and initial results for VA Cooperative Study #572. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet. 2014 Jun;165B(4):381-9.

Harvey PD, Aslan M, Du M, Zhao H, Siever LJ, Pulver A, Gaziano JM, Concato J. Factor structure of cognition and functional capacity in two studies of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder: Implications for genomic studies. Neuropsychology. 2016 Jan;30(1):28-39.

Hou L, Sun N, Mane S, Sayward F, Rajeevan N, Cheung KH, Cho K, Pyarajan S, Aslan M, Miller P, Harvey PD, Gaziano JM, Concato J, Zhao H. Impact of genotyping errors on statistical power of association tests in genomic analyses: A case study. Genet Epidemiol. 2017 Feb;41(2):152-162. Epub 2016 Dec 26.

More Information

• Study ClinicalTrials.gov site
• ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01149551
• Dimensions for VA summary (Requires an account to access outside the VA network. Dimensions for VA is a database that connects publications, grants, patents, clinical trials, and policy documents)