About the Authors

Ke-xin Wen

Contributed equally to this work with: Ke-xin Wen, Jelena Miliç

k.wen@erasmusmc.nl (KW); t.muka@erasmusmc.nl (TM)

Affiliation Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, the Netherlands

Jelena Miliç

Contributed equally to this work with: Ke-xin Wen, Jelena Miliç

Affiliation Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, the Netherlands

Bassem El-Khodor

Affiliation Research and Development, Metagenics, Inc, United States of America

Klodian Dhana

Affiliation Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, the Netherlands

Jana Nano

Affiliation Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, the Netherlands

Tammy Pulido

Affiliation Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, the Netherlands

Bledar Kraja

Affiliations Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Medicine, Tirana, Albania, University Clinic of Gastrohepatology, University Hospital Center Mother Teresa, Tirana, Albania

Asija Zaciragic

Affiliation Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, the Netherlands

Wichor M. Bramer

Affiliation Medical Library, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

John Troup

Affiliation Research and Development, Metagenics, Inc, United States of America

Rajiv Chowdhury

Affiliation Department of Public Health & Primary Care, Cardiovascular Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB1 8RN, United Kingdom

M. Arfam Ikram

Affiliation Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, the Netherlands

Abbas Dehghan

Affiliation Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, the Netherlands

Taulant Muka

k.wen@erasmusmc.nl (KW); t.muka@erasmusmc.nl (TM)

Affiliation Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, the Netherlands

Oscar H. Franco

Affiliation Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, the Netherlands

Competing Interests

KW and TM reported receiving research support from Metagenics Inc. JM, KD, JM, JN, BK and AZ have been financially supported by Erasmus Mundus Western Balkans (ERAWEB), a project funded by the European Commission. Additional support was provided to AD from the Netherlands Organization for Health Research (NWO) (ZonMW VENI 916.12.154) and the EUR Fellowship. BE and JT worked as scientists at Metagenics Inc. OHF reported receiving grants or research support from Metagenics Inc. KW and TM reported receiving research support from Metagenics Inc. JM, KD, JM, JN, BK and AZ have been financially supported by Erasmus Mundus Western Balkans (ERAWEB), a project funded by the European Commission. Additional support was provided to AD from the Netherlands Organization for Health Research (NWO) (ZonMW VENI 916.12.154) and the EUR Fellowship. BE and JT worked as scientists at Metagenics Inc. OHF reported receiving grants or research support from Metagenics Inc. We confirm that the funding currently declared in the competing interest statement does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization: JT TM OHF. Formal analysis: KW JM KD JN TP BK AZ WMB RC TM. Funding acquisition: OHF. Investigation: KW JM KD JN TP BK AZ WMB RC TM AD OHF. Methodology: TM OHF. Project administration: TM. Supervision: TM OHF. Writing – original draft: KW JM TM OHF. Writing – review & editing: KW JM BE KD JN TP BK AZ WMB JT RC MAI AD TM OHF.