Major chronic diseases, including mental health disorders (depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia), cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), and cancers, are leading contributors to global disability and mortality. Despite increasing prevalence worldwide, their etiology remains multifactorial and incompletely understood. Evidence suggests that the complex interaction between genetic susceptibility and modifiable environmental or lifestyle factors plays a critical role in shaping disease outcomes.
The UK Biobank offers a unique opportunity to examine these interactions at scale. With deep phenotyping, extensive genotyping, neuroimaging, and longitudinal follow-up of over 500,000 participants, it provides an unparalleled resource to investigate the complex mechanisms underlying these conditions. However, most large-scale studies on chronic diseases have been conducted predominantly in Western populations, limiting their generalizability and the identification of diverse risk factors.
To address this gap, we propose a comparative study integrating UK Biobank data with a clinically diagnosed patient cohorts from Chinese hospitals. This cross-population design enables investigation of shared vs. culturally influenced risk pathways, allowing us to identify both universal and context-specific mechanisms.
By leveraging rich data modalities-genetics, lifestyle, environment, and brain imaging-this project aims to generate novel insights into the biological, environmental, and sociocultural determinants of major chronic diseases. This will support the development of more equitable, precise, and personalized diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic approaches across global populations, thereby advancing precision public health.
