How do 'effects' differ across time? Understanding health inequalities by triangulating across multiple data sources and empirical strategies

随着时间的推移，“效果”有何不同？

• 批准号: MR/V002147/1
• 负责人: David Bann
• 金额: $ 68.02万
• 依托单位: University College London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2020 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=MR%2FV002147%2F1
• 关键词: How; do; effects; differ; across

Socioeconomic circumstances such as our education or income are thought to have important effects on our health. On average, the more socioeconomically advantaged someone is, the better their health. Contrary to widely-held myth, these differences are not inevitable or unchangeable. Economic and health policies change across time, and are ultimately expected to either worsen (widen) or improve (narrow) these differences. Scientists, government departments, and voluntary organisations all agree that inequalities in health should be reduced. In order to do so, we need to have an evidence-based understanding of how these inequalities have changed across time to help us develop effective policies. This project seeks to generate this evidence. First, it will bring together multiple datasets to investigate how these health inequalities have changed across time in the UK. In the past, researchers have tended to use these studies separately - analysing them together is a very powerful way of understanding how inequalities have changed across time. It will then seek to understand whether these correlations reflect causal relationships. While it is possible that social circumstances are correlated with health, there are other explanations for such correlations. It is also possible that such causal effects differ across time, as society changes; and across age, as people get older. It will do this by using multiple data sources which follow many thousands of individuals across time. It will use information on the environment along with genetic information to attempt to address this. In addition, this project will investigate how the causal role of two other factors may have changed across time. The first is cognitive capability - this refers to how individuals think and process information. On average, those with higher cognitive capability seem to have better health across a range of health measures such as lower cardiovascular disease risk and lower body weight. Due to the increasingly complex nature of society (and potential future changes related to technological development), it is important to understand if the importance of this factor for health has changed across time. The second factor is genetic propensity to ill health. In recent decades our understanding of genetics has greatly improved. We all contain genetic propensity to common health measures, such as body weight and blood pressure, but some individuals have higher genetic propensity than others. These differences do not mean that they will definitively have worse health measures - genetic risk is considered 'probabilistic' rather than 'deterministic'. The expression of these genes also depends on the environment. As such, this project will seek to understand if the links between genetic factors and body weight, blood pressure and mental health have changed across time. Taken together, this project seeks to advance scientific understanding and provide evidence which can ultimately be used to inform national policies related to public health inequalities in the UK.

社会经济环境，如我们的教育或收入，被认为对我们的健康有重要影响。平均而言，一个人的社会经济地位越高，他的健康状况就越好。与普遍持有的神话相反，这些差异并非不可避免或不可改变。经济和卫生政策随着时间的推移而变化，最终预计会恶化（扩大）或改善（缩小）这些差异。科学家、政府部门和志愿者组织都认为应该减少健康方面的不平等。为了做到这一点，我们需要对这些不平等如何随着时间的推移而变化有一个基于证据的理解，以帮助我们制定有效的政策。本项目旨在提供这些证据。首先，它将汇集多个数据集，以调查这些健康不平等在英国如何随着时间的推移而变化。在过去，研究人员倾向于分别使用这些研究-一起分析它们是理解不平等如何随时间变化的一种非常有效的方式。然后，它将试图了解这些相关性是否反映了因果关系。虽然社会环境可能与健康相关，但对这种相关性还有其他解释。也有可能，随着社会的变化，这种因果效应随时间而变化;随着人们的年龄增长，这种因果效应随年龄而变化。它将通过使用多个数据源来做到这一点，这些数据源在一段时间内跟踪成千上万的个人。它将使用环境信息沿着遗传信息来试图解决这个问题。此外，本项目还将研究其他两个因素的因果作用如何随时间变化。第一个是认知能力-这是指个人如何思考和处理信息。平均而言，那些具有较高认知能力的人似乎在一系列健康措施中具有更好的健康状况，例如较低的心血管疾病风险和较低的体重。由于社会的性质日益复杂（以及与技术发展相关的潜在未来变化），重要的是要了解这一因素对健康的重要性是否随着时间的推移而发生变化。第二个因素是遗传的不健康倾向。近几十年来，我们对遗传学的理解有了很大的提高。我们都包含对常见健康指标（如体重和血压）的遗传倾向，但有些人的遗传倾向比其他人高。这些差异并不意味着他们肯定会有更差的健康措施-遗传风险被认为是“概率”而不是“决定性”。这些基因的表达也取决于环境。因此，该项目将试图了解遗传因素与体重，血压和心理健康之间的联系是否随着时间的推移而发生变化。总而言之，该项目旨在促进科学理解，并提供最终可用于告知英国公共卫生不平等相关国家政策的证据。

项目成果

What if risk factors influenced the variability of health outcomes as well as the mean? Evidence and implications

如果风险因素影响健康结果的变异性以及平均值怎么办？

• DOI: 10.1101/2021.03.30.21254645
• 发表时间: 2021
• 作者: Bann D

Religiosity and Mental Wellbeing Among Members of Majority and Minority Religions: Findings From Understanding Society: the UK Household Longitudinal Study.

• DOI: 10.1093/aje/kwab133
• 发表时间: 2022-01-01
• 期刊: American journal of epidemiology
• 影响因子: 5
• 作者: Aksoy O;Bann D;Fluharty ME;Nandi A
• 通讯作者: Nandi A

Changes in the body mass index and blood pressure association across time: Evidence from multiple cross-sectional and cohort studies.

• DOI: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2021.106825
• 发表时间: 2021-12
• 期刊: Preventive medicine
• 影响因子: 5.1
• 作者: Bann D;Scholes S;Hardy R;O'Neill D
• 通讯作者: O'Neill D

Weakening of the cognition and height association from 1957 to 2018: Findings from four British birth cohort studies.

• DOI: 10.7554/elife.81099
• 发表时间: 2023-04-06
• 期刊: eLife
• 影响因子: 7.7
• 作者: Bann D;Wright L;Davies NM;Moulton V
• 通讯作者: Moulton V

Investigating change across time in prevalence or association: the challenges of cross-study comparative research and possible solutions.

• DOI: 10.1007/s44155-022-00021-1
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: Discover social science and health