Research questions: Kidney diseases impose a profound and increasing burden on global health systems, with an estimated over 850 million individuals worldwide, spanning conditions such as chronic kidney disease (CKD), acute kidney injury (AKI), and kidney failure. Although traditional risk factors such as obesity, diabetes and hypertension are well established, the contributions of modifiable lifestyle factors, environmental exposures, genetic susceptibility, and circulating biomarkers to disease incidence remain incompletely understood, and evidence on determinants of disease progression and outcomes is fragmented. This knowledge gap limits early identification of high-risk populations and development of prevention and risk stratification strategies.
Objectives: This project aims to leverage UK Biobank data to investigate the associations of lifestyle, environmental, genetic, and biomarker factors with: kidney disease incidence; post-diagnosis progression trajectories; and clinical outcomes (cardiovascular events, mortality). By evaluating individual and joint contributions of these factors, we aim to advance understanding of renal diseases risk factors, improve risk stratification, and identify targets for prevention and intervention.
Scientific rationale: UK Biobank provides a unique platform with comprehensive prospective data on lifestyle behaviors, environmental exposures, genome-wide genetic variation, and high-throughput biomarker measurements, alongside long-term follow-up and linkage to hospital and mortality records. Integrating these multi-dimensional data, this project will examine kidney incidence, progression trajectories, and endpoint events using advanced epidemiological approaches to identify novel risk factors and biomarkers, elucidate pathophysiological pathways underlying renal diseases, improve risk stratification, and support prevention strategies reducing kidney diseases burden.
