Periodic Reporting for period 4 - Pros-RODAM (Hypertension Susceptibility in African Migrants: Solving the puzzle through transcontinental prospective cohort study design)
Période du rapport: 2022-09-01 au 2023-08-31
The Pros-RODAM project therefore aims to understand the mechanisms underlying the high risk of hypertension among African migrants by assessing the role of epigenetic modifications that result from rapid socio-environmental and behaviour change.
The key objectives are:
1. To identify environmental factors and epigenetic modifications associated with hypertension prevalence in SSA subjects;
2. To assess the causality of these associations using longitudinal data on changes in epigenetic and environmental factors and hypertension incidence;
3. To assess the influence of (change in) environmental factors to changes in epigenetic modifications;
4. To assess the contribution of epigenetic modifications, together with environmental factors, to differences in hypertension risk between migrant and non-migrants (i.e. Europeans and SSA compatriots living in Africa);
5. To use findings to inform targeted prevention, and to provide basis for improving hypertension diagnosis and treatment.
The Pros-RODAM study will provide a sound basis for targeting hypertension prevention and treatment and thereby delivering major breakthroughs in addressing the problem head-on in African migrants and beyond.
• In total, 638 Ghanaians residing in rural Ghana, 608 Ghanaians residing in urban Ghana, 919 migrant Ghanaians in Europe, and 2098 European Dutch have been included in the studied despite the challenges of the COVID-19.
• Extensive data have been collected based on highly standardized procedures, including questionnaires, physical examination, and biological sample collection in all research participants.
• All biological samples have been shipped from Ghana to Amsterdam following highly standardized procedures, and biochemical analysis has been completed. A biobank has been established at the Amsterdam UMC for future analysis of samples.
• The Pros-RODAM statistical dataset for statistical analysis has been compiled and cleaned, and first analysis of the longitudinal data has commenced. Over 20 scientific papers are currently being prepared based on the Pros-RODAM study, aiming to answer the main Pros-RODAM research questions (prevalence and incidence of hypertension, factors associated with incident hypertension, epigenetic modifications associated with hypertension), or focusing on other cardiovascular risk factors and their determinants like diabetes mellitus, obesity, chronic kidney disease, and dyslipidaemia.
• DNA isolation and DNA methylation profiling has been completed using the Infinium® Methylation EPIC BeadChip of Illumina (850K). The DNA methylation data have been cleaned, and first analyses have commenced.
• The dissemination plan to share the study results with the research participants is currently being developed, and results will soon be shared with participants both in Amsterdam and in Ghana.
• The Pros-RODAM team has built a strong collaboration with the African migrant communities in the Netherlands and regularly provides health education information to the African communities through community organizations.
• For all participants, we requested permission to contact them for participation in future research, allowing us to follow them up over time, beyond this round of data collection.
The establishment of transcontinental prospective cohort will have major long-term impact on migrant health research as it will open novel fields and raise new possibilities for research on several health outcomes and social determinants of health among migrants in Europe and non-migrant living in rural and urban Africa.