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Understanding the Genetic Associations between Risky Health Behaviours, Mental Health and Reproductive Outcomes

Safe People

Organisation name

University of Oxford

Organisation sector

3

Applicant name(s)

Vincent Straub

Funders/ Sponsors

Safe Projects

Project ID

OFHS240121

Lay summary

This study aims to understand how unhealthy habits like smoking and heavy drinking come about. These habits have been linked to our genes and our surroundings. We want to study how both genetics and family, lifestyle, and social life affect their uptake. We also want to see how they harm health beyond illnesses like lung cancer. To do this we will look at how they impact mental health, pain medicine use, and fertility. Our goal is to use new ways of studying genes to see how likely people are to develop these habits when they are young. This will allow us to understand how these habits are linked to health problems later in life. The main questions we want to answer are: How do these habits affect health? Do the effects change with age or other factors? How do they impact mental health and other areas? Finally, how do risks change with different family, social, or lifestyle factors? Using Our Future Health data, we will study how these habits affect health and life across the UK population. This study will look at how unhealthy habits like smoking affect health beyond diseases like cancer. We want to learn how these habits develop and impact things like drug use, mental health, and fertility. We will build on recent studies that have shown that genes may play an important role. Our study will use both genetic data and look at factors like age and lifestyle. No UK study has yet used a dataset as large as Our Future Health that combines genetic data, survey answers, and health records to do this. Our research will also help us understand how these habits impact different groups. We will use new genetic methods to better study who is at risk. By studying young and older adults, we hope to see how these habits cause health problems later in life. Our findings will aim to guide future research and show when and why people engage in these habits.

Public benefit statement

This study will look at how habits like heavy drinking are linked to health problems. It will focus on effects on mental health and fertility, which need more attention. We will find out which lifestyle and social factors have the biggest impact. This can show where people need help to make healthier choices. We will also look at how genes play a role in health risks. This will help us predict who is most at risk. We will study which groups face the highest risks and why. This can guide health policies to lower these risks. Overall, the results can help improve healthcare and support better health for everyone. This will help reduce health differences across the UK.

Request category type

Public Health Research

Other approval committees

Project start date

10/11/2025

Latest approval date

08/11/2024

Safe Data

Dataset(s) name

Our Future Health Baseline Health Questionnaire Data

Our Future Health Linked Health Records Data

Our Future Health Genotype Array Data

Safe Setting

Access type

TRE

Safe Outputs

Link to research outputs