| Application: | 20684, Understanding the associations between environmental exposures, health behaviours and health outcomes |
| Title: | Impact of follow-up time and analytical approaches to account for reverse causality on the association between physical activity and health outcomes in UK Biobank |
| Size: | 376291 B |
| Archived: | 28 Oct 2020 |
| Stability: | Complete |
| Personal: | No individual-level data |
Return 2622
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Notes
To assess the relationship between physical activity levels and the risk of disease or death, researchers have to follow study participants over a period of time. Prior to this study, it was not known whether the length of that follow-up time makes a difference to the relationships seen. Using UK Biobank data, we investigated the relationships between physical activity and mortality and cardiovascular disease using four different lengths of follow-up. Keeping everything else equal, shorter follow-up times had stronger associations i.e. we might conclude that physical activity was more protective against mortality and cardiovascular disease than if the study was conducted over a shorter follow-up time. One reason for this might be that as the follow-up time increases, people change their behaviours and so their physical activity they reported no longer reflects their actual behaviour. This has the statistical effect of adding in noise, and so the relationship weakens. Another reason that we found some evidence for was that those who had a diagnosis of cardiovascular disease or cancer were more likely to report lower levels of activity. As these individuals are also at a higher risk of a future event, it overestimates the risks of low activity levels, strengthening the overall relationship. In conclusion, we advised future researchers to carefully consider the length of their study follow-up time and their methods to try and isolate the relationship of interest.We also published a summary blog on the International Journal of Epidemiology's website https://ije-blog.com/2019/10/29/with-great-statistical-power-comes-great-responsibility/#more-2119
Application 20684
Understanding the associations between environmental exposures, health behaviours and health outcomes
It is hypothesised that physical, social and economic environments are related to health. However, in the absence of large population based cohorts with good quality measures of the environment, health behaviours and health outcomes, there is limited robust evidence confirming these relationships. This project will examine the associations between environmental conditions around participants? homes (including features of the built environment, proximity to destinations that facilitate healthy behaviours, and air pollution) and physical activity and dietary behaviours and health outcomes such as overweight and obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer and death. One of UK Biobank?s principal aims is the prevention of serious disease. Lack of physical activity and poor diet are risk factors for multiple chronic conditions, including type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease and stroke. The environments we live in contribute to lower levels of physical activity, unhealthy diets, rising overweight and obesity, and socio-economic inequalities in these behaviours and related diseases. Actions to improve the environment for public health are increasingly advocated in the UK and elsewhere. Understanding the relationships between the environment, dietary and physical activity behaviours, and health outcomes can inform strategies for improving population health. We will use measures of the environment around people?s homes, already calculated for Biobank participants, and examine their associations with self-reported or objectively measured dietary and physical activity behaviours and health outcomes. For example, we will examine the associations between measures of the built environment and proximity to destinations (such as parks and supermarkets) and self-reported and objective measures of physical activity. We will also assess the associations with changes in physical activity and diet in the repeat-measures subsample. All analyses will use existing, and accruing, data only. We will not need to re-contact participants Data from the full cohort and the repeat subsample are requested.
| Lead investigator: | Dr Jenna Panter |
| Lead institution: | University of Cambridge |
2 related Returns
| Return ID | App ID | Description | Archive Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3412 | 20684 | Estimating physical activity from self-reported behaviours in large-scale population studies using network harmonisation: findings from UK Biobank and associations with disease outcomes | 14 May 2021 |
| 2621 | 20684 | Using alternatives to the car and risk of all-cause, cardiovascular and cancer mortality | 28 Oct 2020 |
1 Publication
| Pub ID | Title | Author(s) | Year | Journal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2623 | Impact of follow-up time and analytical approaches to account for reverse causality on the association between physical activity and health outcomes in UK Biobank | Strain T et al. | 2020 | Int J Epidemiol |
Enabling scientific discoveries that improve human health