Cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and diabetic microvascular complications have imposed significant burden of disease on patients, families, and health systems. These conditions often coexist and may share similar risk factors and pathological pathways. The concept of cardiovascular health can be measured by Life’s Essential 8. It is a framework consisting of four health behaviours (i.e., healthy eating pattern, regular physical activity, smoking cessation, and healthy sleep) and four health factors (i.e., body mass index, lipids, glucose, and blood pressure). Meanwhile, the global prevalence of metabolic diseases has risen over the past two decades. This may warrant further investigations to assess the association of combined lifestyle and health factors with incident microvascular conditions and adverse health outcomes using a longitudinal study design. Furthermore, it remains largely unknown the extent to which genetic susceptibility modifies the influence of lifestyle and other cardiometabolic risk factors on the progression of microvascular complications.
In this project, we aim to investigate the profile of cardiovascular health (as measured by Life’s Essential 8 framework) and microvascular complications (which are traditionally known as retinopathy, nephropathy, and neuropathy) and associated factors at the individual and population levels. We are also interested in exploring the association of lifestyle (e.g., habitual diets, physical activities, nicotine exposure, alcohol consumption, sleep, etc.) and genetics with metabolic conditions, cardiovascular health, and individual components of incident microvascular complications. In addition, we intend to assess the role of genetic susceptibility (i.e., an increased likelihood of developing a particular disease based on a person’s genetic makeup) in the risk of disease outcomes, and, in particular, to elucidate the complex relationships between potential genetic, lifestyle, and other cardiometabolic risk factors on the development of microvascular complications.
The proposed project shall last for 36 months. Our study shall provide novel and prospective evidence on the association of lifestyle and genetics with metabolic conditions, cardiovascular health, and incident microvascular morbidity and adverse health outcomes, with substantial public health implications. Our findings may suggest the necessity for regular monitoring of health behaviours and factors following Life’s Essential 8 framework in primary care. This shall form the basis for novel approaches for optimising cardiovascular health and preventing the onset of microvascular complications through lifestyle-based precision medicine in the general population and in high-risk patients.