Chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease , sarcopenia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, digestive disorders, and neurodegenerative diseases represent a major global health challenge. While many risk factors are known, the combined influence of elements like income, diet, lifestyle, environment, and metabolism on disease risk is not fully understood. This project aims to use the UK Biobank resource to investigate how these different elements integrate to affect a person’s risk of developing multiple chronic diseases.
Our primary research objectives are:
(1) To determine how socioeconomic status (e.g., income, education), lifestyle(e.g., physical activity, cigarette smoking, alcohol intake and diet factors),, environmental exposures (e.g. air pollution, noise pollution), and clinical history act both independently and in concert to influence the risk of developing multiple NCDs.
(2) To quantify the extent to which a panel of blood-based metabolic biomarkers explains the links between these risk factors and the eventual onset of disease.
(3) To evaluate how effectively these metabolic biomarkers, including both established and novel ones, can improve the identification of high-risk individuals for specific diseases.
Over a 36-month period, we will analyse UK Biobank data to elucidate how different risk factors interact and to identify subgroups at the highest risk. The findings from this research are expected to clarify the complex aetiology of chronic diseases and help identify high-risk groups. Ultimately, the results will provide evidence to support better prevention strategies, enable earlier detection, and improve clinical management of chronic diseases, with significant potential benefits for public health policy and practice.
