Approved Research

Understanding the genetic and environmental contributors to physical activity and the effect of physical activity on diseases and health-related outcomes

Lay summary

Physical activity (PA) is a modifiable factor in daily life that is commonly assumed to be associated with a variety of diseases and health-related outcomes, including mortality. However, the factors that contribute to PA and the effect of PA on diseases remain largely unclear, which significantly influenced the effective use of PA to prevent or treat diseases. Additionally, owing to the residual confounding and reverse causation, two major factors that threaten the validity of traditional epidemiological studies, previous evidence mostly explored the associations, leaving causality largely unknown. Furthermore, apart from PA per se, genetic and other environmental factors are contributors to complex diseases, which could interact with PA. For instance, those with more risky alleles on the FTO gene could avoid having a high body mass index if they compensated by being highly physically active. Taking other factors into account could help better understand the pathogenesis of diseases. Herein, we plan to utilize the UK Biobank database to conduct a three-year project intended to conduct well-powered traditional epidemiological and genome-wide association studies to investigate the risk factors of PA, the effect of PA on diseases and health-related outcomes, and test whether the effect is modified by genetic or other environmental factors, or vice versa. Additionally, by leveraging MR, we can further unravel the potential causal role or bi-directional causality of PA on the risk of diseases and health-related conditions. This project shall help us better understand the contributors of PA and the aetiology of diseases, help develop more efficient prevention and treatment strategies for such conditions, and eventually help improve public health.