Asian American Prevention Research: A Populomics Epidemiology Cohort (ARISE)

We propose to contribute a San Francisco Bay Area (Bay Area) population-based prospective cohort to a nationwide cohort study of Asian Americans (AsAs) to address major gaps in evidence on the correlates and determinants of disease risk and health. We will recruit, characterize, and follow Chinese, Filipino, Indian, and Vietnamese Americans, four understudied but high-risk AsA groups. These communities are expanding rapidly in the United States (US), making them a high priority to enhance overall population health. Specifically, we will recruit 2,100 AsAs in the Bay Area to characterize cardiometabolic profiles and psychosocial and other health factors through extensive surveys, clinical assessments and assays, and imaging studies. Although disease patterns and risk factors appear to vary among different AsA country-of-origin groups, previous research suggests that AsAs are at high risk of cardiometabolic disorders such as diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, cardiovascular disease, stroke, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic syndrome, and obesity, as well as underdiagnosed mental health conditions. However, epidemiological data on individual AsA groups are sparse, and clinical guidelines and treatments specific to these groups have not been developed. Our UG3/UH3 study site will collaborate with the Coordinating Center (U24), other study sites, and NHLBI to develop a large cohort of 10,000 people to characterize risk factors and disease patterns in individual AsA groups. The specific aims of the proposed study are to 1) contribute to the development of a Common Protocol for the study in collaboration with NHLBI, U24, and other UG3/UH3 investigators and establish a state-of-the-art populomics cohort; 2) measure the prevalence and distribution of baseline clinical markers and self-reported health and risk factors in each AsA group and compare across groups; and 3) determine relationships among baseline risk factors in each AsA group, including clinical data and self-reported stress and sleep, with subsequent (incident) health outcomes during follow-up. This proposed study is innovative in its in-depth exposome phenotyping through comprehensive surveys that will include assessments of mental health and traditional risk factors, in addition to in-depth clinical data and biospecimens, to understand the intersections of epidemiology, biology, psychology, and technology in physical and mental health. We will leverage these innovations alongside Stanford’s world-class resources in population health sciences to uncover critical cardiometabolic and psychosocial factors underlying health and disease in AsAs. This specific cohort development is for a high-risk group and is related to a larger population-based effort to address health disparities.