Approved Research

The analysis of genetic links among socioeconomics, healthy aging, and disease prevention

Lay summary

Socioeconomic factors (such as education, occupation, and social support) affect both physical and mental health. As socioeconomic factors are heritable and can be influenced by many genetic factors, genes that influence socioeconomic factors are likely to also influence clinical outcomes (i.e., cure, clinical worsening, and mortality). However, the lack of large-scale genetic datasets makes it difficult to study how genes influence economic behaviors, which is critical for both social-economic research and public health research. Furthermore, studying the effects of socioeconomic factors on health, aging, and disease is challenging.

We intend to explore the relationship among socioeconomic factors, physical characteristics, aging biomarkers, mental health, and late-onset diseases. The goal is to help prevent late-onset diseases and detect them early by using genetic and socioeconomic information.  Specifically, we will (1) identify important socioeconomic factors that influence human health, (2) identify genetic factors that influence socioeconomic factors, and then, we can (3) build a model to predict aging in health conditions and late-onset diseases. We will provide new insights into public health research for disease prevention and detection. We aim to finish this project in three years.