Approved research

Effects of road traffic noise and air pollution on diabetes and obesity in European cohorts: a harmonized approach in the BioSHaRE project

Lay summary

This project will include data from Lifelines (Netherland), HUNT (Norway) and UKBiobank (England)to investigate the following specific aims: 1) Study the effects of road traffic noise exposure on autoimmune and type 2 diabetes adjusted for confounding factors. 2) Study the effects of air pollution exposure on autoimmune and type 2 diabetes and obesity (BMI, waist circumference, waist-hip ratio) adjusted for confounding factors. 3) Study the effects of the interaction between noise and air pollution exposures on type 2 diabetes and obesity (BMI, waist circumference, waist-hip ratio) adjusted for confounding factors. The UK Biobank aims at providing data for improving `prevention, diagnosis and treatment of a wide range of serious and life-threatening illnesses ? including cancer, heart diseases, stroke, diabetes, arthritis, osteoporosis, eye disorders, depression and forms of dementia. Such extensive dataset will additionally provide good basis for studies on disease causation. The proposed study will expand our knowledge of the effects of common urban exposures on health exemplified by obesity and diabetes. Including geographically different populations with dissimilar degrees of exposure, will contribute to a diversified picture helpful in further strategic health management regarding these matters. Data derived from UK biobank, Lifelines and HUNT will be analysed in a combinatory strategy using Datashield - a procedure developed through the EU-project BioShare. The project will primarily be focusing on cross-sectional analysis of the effects on diabetes and obesity in relation to air or noise pollution. Harmonised variables on physical activity and nutrition will be developed and used as interacting factors in the project. Some other co-factors to be included in the analyses are: smoking, sleep disturbance, history of hypertension and CVD, socio-economic status and inflammation. The full cohort with Western Europian origin, data on air pollution or noice exposure and measurements on anthropometry.