Rationale: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) and its risk factors are the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. While numerous studies have been conducted to identify risk factors for CVD, the underlying interrelationships between CVD and its risk factors are still understudied. Various CVD factors may have both shared and distinct genetic and lifestyle causes (e.g., BMI increases risk of both diabetes and obstructive sleep apnea, but there are individuals with obstructive sleep apnea with low BMI). Multiple established risk factors, including age, smoking, obesity, and physical inactivity, are shared across CVD. These risk factors have also be recently shown to increase risk of various types of dementia. Taken together, there is growing evidence suggesting a common etiology and phenotypic and genetic links between CVD risk factors, which require more systematic and in-depth investigations in large population-based cohorts.
Research questions:
1. Examine phenotypic and genetic links among multiple cardiovascular and neurocognitive phenotypes.
2. Evaluate short- and long-term impact of lifestyle and cardiovascular risk factors on other health outcomes, such as cardiovascular events and neurodegenerative disorders.
Research objectives:
1. Identify sociodemographic, behavioral, environmental, physiological, and genetic risk factors for cardiovascular disease (and its risk factors), and neurocognitive aging outcomes.
2. Develop and evaluate robust, reproducible, and powerful approaches for analyses of genetic, omics, and longitudinal data to enable the studies.