Approved Research

A step forward in understanding the complex relationship between exposure to multiple health risk factors and multiple morbidity: a study based on the UK Biobank Cohort

Lay summary

We are living longer. Consequently, with age we are likely to accumulate multiple chronic diseases like high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes and heart diseases at the same time. Scientifically, this is referred as multimorbidity.  At the moment if affects 27% of all adults in the UK however this is set to increase significantly in the future. This is going to be one of the biggest challenges not only National Health Service but for society as a whole.

We know that as we get older our health declines, however we also know that several modifiable risk factors such as lifestyle factors such as smoking, diet, alcohol intake, how much we move as well as things like pollution also affect our health.  Time and time science has shown that people who move less, smoke or have an excessive intake of alcohol and who eat an unhealthy diet are at a higher risk of developing several chronic diseases like heart disease and cancer.  New research shows that exposure to unhealthy levels of air pollution adds to the risk of these chronic diseases. Other research also shows that there are non-medical factors such as the level of education, social class, income and the neighbourhood you live in also play their role in our health. However, there is little research that has looked at the impact of all these factors on health.

Each of these factors (sociodemographic, psychosocial, lifestyle and environmental factor) all play a role in the development of multiple chronic conditions. However, what we don't yet know is how these risk factors which coexist within the same individual interact together. Studying this specifically is a challenge and as a result standard statistical techniques are of limited use in this regard.

Using the UK Biobank Cohort we aim to try understand the complex relationship between the exposure to multiple health risks and the development of multiple chronic diseases. The expected results of this study will help to identify which groups may be more at risk of developing multiple diseases in the future and will require much more targeted public intervention.