The ubiquity of nighttime light exposure implicates potential risk for health, and the importance of quantifying the potential adverse impacts of nighttime light pollution is underscored by the rapid rate of urbanization.
Disease burden of cardiometabolic diseases (such as hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, coronary heart disease, and stroke) and mental disorders shows an increasing trend in a global scale, while the causes of them are complex and still not fully understood. It’s important to identify modifiable risk factors of them. Nighttime light exposure might increase risks of cardiometabolic diseases and mental disorder through changing the circadian rhythms. However, the related evidence on the health impacts of this novel environmental factor in the general population is extremely lacking, especially based on cohort studies.
The UK Biobank, a large-scale cohort study with extensive information on demographic, socioeconomic, lifestyles, anthropometric, medical, genetic, biological data offers us extraordinary opportunities to investigate the following two questions: First, what are the relationships between nighttime light exposure and risks of cardiometabolic diseases and mental disorders? Second, what is the underlying mechanisms of nighttime light exposure in the abovementioned diseases?
Satellite data from participants’ addresses will be used to characterize the nighttime light exposure. Cox proportional hazards models with adjustment for other environmental factors and covariates would be used to explore the relationships. The underlying mechanisms of nighttime light exposure in the abovementioned diseases will be explored. Furthermore, updated machine learning methods will be used to predict risks of cardiometabolic diseases and mental disorders.
We plan to use the full cohort of the UK Biobank database. The research tends to be carried out with a three-year duration. The findings of our study are expected to provide scientific evidence for prevention of cardiometabolic diseases and mental disorders. Furthermore, the project may help to form policy-making towards reducing the adverse health impacts of nighttime light exposure.