University of Reading

Academic Institute

OFHS240193

Aim. This study will look at which social groups in the UK are more prone to having both heart/stroke conditions and diabetes/hormonal disorders. We will also consider factors like age, sex, lifestyle, health history, medication, and family health. Research Questions. 1) How common are in UK of each of the possible combinations (yes/no) of heart/stroke conditions and diabetes/hormonal disorders? 2) What are the pre-disposing characteristics of the population in each of those groups? 3) How much do social characteristics influence having both heart/stroke conditions and diabetes/hormonal disorders, even after accounting for other factors? 4) How do the results differ when using different analysis methods – traditional statistics versus modern computing techniques? We will consider as heart/stroke conditions either of: coronary artery/coronary heart disease; congestive heart failure; heart attack (myocardial infraction); abnormal heart rhythm (arrythmia); chest pain (angina); heart valve problems; blood clots (deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism); stroke. Diabetes/hormonal disorders will include: type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, overactive thyroid, underactive thyroid, Cushing syndrome, lactose intolerance, vitamin A deficiency, thiamine deficiency, vitamin D deficiency. Hormonal disorders can affect the heart and blood vessels, either directly or through side effects from medications. This means hormonal disorders like diabetes often come with other heart-related risks factors like obesity, high blood pressure, and abnormal cholesterol levels, increasing the risk of heart issues. Social minority groups and individuals with an unhealthy lifestyle are also at a higher risk of having both hormonal disorders and heart diseases. The rate in UK of heart and hormonal diseases varies depending on sources and definitions used. Accounting additionally for social and lifestyle determinants of health is not easy, since information is found either in small surveys or otherwise multiple national datasets have to be combined, which can introduce errors. Our Future Health has already collected data on over one million participants, covering age, sex, lifestyle, social characteristics, health history, medication, and family health. We will use this unique data source along with traditional and advanced analysis methods to provide national statistics on people with both heart and hormonal diseases, and identify social groups at risk.

The United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goal 3.4 calls for reducing premature mortality from non-communicable diseases through prevention and treatment and promoting mental health and well-being. By providing the rate in UK of people with both heart diseases and hormonal disorders (such as in diabetes, hyper-/hypo-thyroidism), we will inform strategies supporting the UN Goal 3.4 since a high rate of both diseases indicates a high mortality risk. By identifying groups at the risk of both heart diseases and hormonal disorders, our analysis will inform targeted prevention and intervention protocols/strategies, which is a core part of UN Goal 3.4. Finally, by combining traditional and advanced analysis techniques, we aim to arrive at robust evidence on the co-occurrence of heart diseases and hormonal disorders that will serve as example for the use of Our Future Health for cutting-edge health research. The British Heart Foundation and Diabetes UK will assist in the recruitment of patients who will guide us in shaping this research for the interest of the public. The project will budget for the recruitment of a research and innovation associate, providing a career development opportunity within the Data Science and Machine Learning group, Department of Computer Science, University of Reading.

Public Health Research

08/01/2026

29/05/2025

TRE