Approved Research

Environmental factors in adulthood, genetic predisposition, and human common diseases

Lay summary

Common diseases including dementia, cardiometabolic and kidney diseases, and cancers have been recognized as public health problems globally. The development of these chronic diseases is determined by gene, risk factors after birth, and their co-effects; however, we need more novel modifiable factors that could prevent the development of these diseases and more evidence of co-effects of gene and postnatal risk factor. This project is expected to explore novel risk factors in the life aspects of diet, lifestyle, natural environment, mental status, blood markers, physical measurements and medical history, and whether gene and these factors would jointly affect the development of human common disease, and to test the causal effect of a modifiable risk factor on the diseases (e.g. cardiovascular and renal conditions, metabolic diseases, dementia, and cancers) using a novel analysis method. This project will last for 36 months. The findings will eventually contribute to the improvement of the prevention and treatment of common complex diseases. We plan to use the full cohort.

Old: We aimed to investigate the associations between postnatal factors in adulthood (diet, lifestyle, natural environment, mental status, blood markers, physical measurements and medical history) and common diseases (cardiovascular and renal conditions, metabolic diseases, dementia, and cancers), and their interaction with genetic risk.

New: We aimed to investigate the associations between postnatal factors in adulthood (diet, lifestyle, natural environment, mental status, blood markers, physical measurements, imaging and medical history) and common noncommunicable chronic diseases (endocrine, nutritional, and metabolic diseases, mental and behavioral disorders, nervous system disorders, circulatory system disorders, respiratory system disorders, digestive system disorders, musculoskeletal system disorders and cancer, etc.) and associated mortality, and their interaction with genetic risk.