Approved Research

Dissecting the integrative impact of factors in collective and individual levels on chronic diseases and its underlying mechanisms

Lay summary

Aims: Our study aims to evaluate the integrative impact of collective and individual factors on chronic diseases and dissect the underlying mechanisms in order to provide evidence for public health intervention and policy making.

Scientific rationale: The health niche of an individual encompasses three levels, i.e., the micro-level (precursors, biomarkers, physiology, and multi-omics), meso-level (lifestyle-level factors), and macro-level (built environment, natural environment, and social environment). The potential impact on chronic diseases needs to be considered as a whole taking both collective and individual factors into account, on the basis of respective associations of environmental factors with chronic diseases. The impact of collective and individual factors on chronic diseases may vary by disease clusters, such as cardiometabolic disease, neurodegenerative disease, mental disorders, and cancer. A summary of the similarities and differences may provide clues for the efficacy of a single intervention. Identifying the high-risk populations and the more susceptible populations could lay the foundation for the reallocation of medical resources for equity and high efficacy. Observational study of a natural population within the UK Biobank could only provide clues for the causes of diseases. Molecular pathways based on multi-omics and quasi-experiments as Mendelian Randomization could help to take a closer look at the etiology, thus providing potential targets for drugs with greater assurance.

Project duration: This complicated project includes several independent analyses and requires close collaborations among several research groups. We expect to achieve some initial milestones in the next 3 years.

Public health impact: Our study may advance public health policy priorities by identifying the high-risk and the more susceptible populations for better reallocation of medical resources. In addition, based on the associations of urban living environment with chronic diseases, we could provide compelling evidence for city planning in the aspect of human health. Finally, leveraging the massive multi-omics data, novel targets for drugs may be identified for disease prevention and management.