In 2016, Cambridge University’s Cardiovascular Epidemiology partnered with three research centres operating across rural, urban and slum sites in Bangladesh to launch the BangladEsh Longitudinal Investigation of Emerging Vascular Events (BELIEVE) study: a large-scale prospective cohort investigation. The ongoing study, led by the Cardiovascular Epidemiology Unit’s John Danesh and Professor Emanuele Di Angelantonio, has a biological focus on:
(1) enabling genetic discovery using diverse phenotypes (particularly those related to nutrition such as iron deficiency anaemia, fat-metabolism, infection, or environment-related aspects such as air and toxic metal pollution), causal evaluation and functional genomics;
(2) assessing reliably the roles of established and unique locally-relevant risk factors on incident NCDs such as cardiovascular, cancer, diabetes and kidney diseases (ascertained by clinical records and standardised validation);
(3) helping study discrepant risk factor patterns unique to this population (e.g., unusually high tobacco usage, lowest average body mass index, highest physical inactivity rates) over time, in various age groups as a life-course approach; and their heritability; and
(4) creating a well-characterised population base to set-up innovative and cost-effective behaviour modification and pharmaceutical interventions, suitable from a South-Asian context.
Through ongoing research and collaboration, the BELIEVE study also aims to mobilise partnerships of Bangladesh and UK centres of excellence, create an NCDs research platform, and strengthen research capacity in Bangladesh. Achievements to date include the recruitment of 74,000 study participants from over 38,000 households and the collection of >56,000 blood samples; and the training of 80 Bangladeshis in cross-disciplinary population health research.
For further information on the Study Design please visit http://capable-bangladesh.org
Acknowledgement:
The Cardiovascular Epidemiology Unit would like to acknowledge and thank The National Heart Foundation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, and the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease, Bangladesh, for their continued involvement and partnership in the BELIEVE Study. The Believe programme was initially supported by an £8M grant from the Research Councils-UK’s Global Challenges Research Fund programme.