The global burden of disease attributable to externalising disorders such as alcohol misuse
calls urgently for effective prevention and intervention. As our current knowledge is mainly
derived from high-income countries such in Europe and North-America, it is difficult to
address the wider socio-cultural, psychosocial context, and genetic factors in which risk and
resilience are embedded in low- and medium-income countries. c-VEDA was established as
the first and largest India-based multi-site cohort investigating the vulnerabilities for the
development of externalising disorders, addictions, and other mental health problems. Using
a harmonised data collection plan coordinated with multiple cohorts in China, USA, and
Europe, baseline data were collected from 7 study sites between November 2016 and May
2019. 9010 participants between the ages of 6 and 23 were assessed during this time, amongst
which 1278 participants underwent more intensive assessments including MRI scans. Both
waves of follow-ups have started according to the accelerated cohort structure with planned
missingness design. Here we present descriptive statistics on several key domains of
assessments, and the full baseline dataset will be made accessible for researchers outside the
consortium in September 2019. More details can be found on our website [cveda.org].