| Title: | Association between social determinants of health and chronic non-communicable diseases |
| Lead Institution: | LanZhou University |
| Principal investigator: |
Application 116198
WARNING: the interactive features of this website use CSS3, which your browser does not support. To use the full features of this website, please update your browser.
About
Chronic non-communicable diseases (CNCDs), including cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases, diabetes, and mental disorders are a major public health challenge, accounting for 71% of global deaths and 85% of premature mortality in low- and middle-income countries. These diseases could be largely preventable by addressing common risk factors, such as unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, tobacco use, and alcohol abuse. However, these risk factors are not randomly distributed in the population, but are influenced by the social determinants of health (SDoH). SDoH, including socioeconomic status, education, occupation, income, gender, green space, noise, air pollution and so on, are the non-medical factors that influence health outcomes. The SDoH create health inequities among different groups of people, affecting their exposure and vulnerability to CNCDs and their access to prevention and treatment services. For example, people living in poverty may have limited access to healthy food, safe water, health care, and education, which increases the risk of NCDs. Similarly, women may face gender-based discrimination and violence that affect their mental and physical health. Current studies have found that SDoH are associated with various health outcomes, especially those related to CNCDs, but there is a lack of high-quality cohort data to provide relevant data on environmental monitoring, demographics, and health outcomes to confirm the causal relationship between SDoH and CNCDs. We believe that the potential mechanisms between SDoH and CNCDs are complex. There may be multiple pathophysiological processes and molecular mechanisms involved. We aim to assess the association between SDoH and CNCDs and explore their potential pathways. This study will enhance our understanding of the mechanisms linking SDoH and CNCDs. We believe genetic variation may explain the relationship between SDoH and CNCDs. Using Mendelian Randomisation, we'll examine if there's a causal link. We'll identify genetic variants linked to SDoH through screening SNPs associated with exposure factors from meta-analyses. Then, we'll use UK Biobank dataset to investigate if these variants increase CNCD risk. If linked to both SDoH and CNCDs, we can conclude SDoH is a causal risk factor, as genetic variants are randomly allocated at birth and not influenced by behavioural, socioeconomic or physiological factors. The expected outcomes of this research project are to provide new evidence on how SDoH affect CNCDs; to identify the key SDoH factors that need to be addressed to prevent or reduce CNCDs; and to inform policies and interventions that aim to promote health equity and reduce the burden of CNCDs.1 Publication
| Pub ID | Title | Author(s) | Year | Journal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13277 | Optimal lifestyle patterns for delaying ageing and reducing all-cause mortality: insights from the UK Biobank | Ce Liu (+9) | 2024 | European Review of Aging and Physical Activity |
Enabling scientific discoveries that improve human health