Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs)-encompassing heart and blood vessel disorders -remained the leading global cause of mortality, accounting for 19.4 million deaths (28.6% of all fatalities) in 2021. A paradox persists: while WHO notes most CVDs are preventable via behavioral/environmental risk factors, global burden continues rising, highlighting urgent need to enhance prevention strategies.
Current evidence emphasizes multi-domain interventions targeting modifiable factors (amenable to lifestyle/behavioral/policy-driven societal changes). However, critical gaps persist: prior studies focused narrowly on hypothesized risk factors under hypothesis-driven frameworks, potentially overlooking unhypothesized contributors; risk factors often manifest as interconnected clusters; and univariate significant factors may lose robustness in multivariate contexts. Consequently, such approaches fail to capture CVD’s multifactorial etiology and risk factor synergies, exacerbating selective reporting and publication bias. Besides, non-standardized analytical methods introduce heterogeneity, hindering cross-study comparability.
To bridge these gaps, this project aims to 1) systematically identify multi-dimensional modifiable CVD risk factors (physiological/environmental/behavioral/socioeconomic) using UK Biobank’s large-scale prospective cohort; 2) examine interactions between modifiable exposures and genetic variations in CVD risk; and 3) quantify synergistic effects on CVD incidence and evaluate the public health impact of multi-domain interventions.
Our dissemination strategy encompasses academic publication in high-impact journals and presentation at international conferences to engage the scientific community. Simultaneously, we will develop accessible public science materials and community health education campaigns to translate findings into actionable prevention strategies, ensuring our research directly informs both clinical practice and population-level health policies.
