Causes, Consequences and Modification of Health Behaviour
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Bristol
Department Name: UNLISTED
Abstract
Health behaviours – smoking, drinking, diet and so on – re important influences on both physical and mental health. This programme attempts to understand how these behaviours impact on our health, and how they influence each other. This understanding will help to identify ways in which we can promote healthier behaviour, for example by helping people to stop smoking or reduce their drinking.
Technical Summary
The overarching aim of this programme is to understand relationships between health behaviours and both physical and mental health outcomes, in order to develop a better understanding of the mechanistic pathways that underline these relationships and identify targets for novel individual and population level interventions.
Our specific aims include:
- To identify novel genetic instruments relevant to health behaviours for use in Mendelian randomisation (MR) analyses.
- To understand the network of causal relationships between health behaviours and a range of physical and mental health outcomes.
- To interrogate the mechanistic pathways that underlie causal relationships between behaviour and health and identify targets for intervention.
This programme will provide a flow of work that will provide mechanistic insight into causal relationships between health behaviours and both physical and mental health outcomes, and support subsequent intervention development and testing, through existing relationships with other major research groupings and industry partners.
Our specific aims include:
- To identify novel genetic instruments relevant to health behaviours for use in Mendelian randomisation (MR) analyses.
- To understand the network of causal relationships between health behaviours and a range of physical and mental health outcomes.
- To interrogate the mechanistic pathways that underlie causal relationships between behaviour and health and identify targets for intervention.
This programme will provide a flow of work that will provide mechanistic insight into causal relationships between health behaviours and both physical and mental health outcomes, and support subsequent intervention development and testing, through existing relationships with other major research groupings and industry partners.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Marcus Munafo (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Aczel B
(2020)
A consensus-based transparency checklist.
in Nature human behaviour
Akingbuwa WA
(2023)
Multivariate analyses of molecular genetic associations between childhood psychopathology and adult mood disorders and related traits.
in American journal of medical genetics. Part B, Neuropsychiatric genetics : the official publication of the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics
Akingbuwa WA
(2020)
Genetic Associations Between Childhood Psychopathology and Adult Depression and Associated Traits in 42 998 Individuals: A Meta-analysis.
in JAMA psychiatry
Anderson EL
(2021)
Is disrupted sleep a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease? Evidence from a two-sample Mendelian randomization analysis.
in International journal of epidemiology
Armitage J
(2021)
A Polygenic Approach to Understanding Resilience to Peer Victimisation
in Behavior Genetics
Armitage JM
(2021)
Peer victimisation during adolescence and its impact on wellbeing in adulthood: a prospective cohort study.
in BMC public health
| Description | Collaborative Award |
| Amount | £3,123,724 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | 206853/Z/17/Z |
| Organisation | Wellcome Trust |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2018 |
| End | 12/2021 |
| Description | Confidence in Global Mental Health Research |
| Amount | £173,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | MC_PC_MR/R019622/1 |
| Organisation | Medical Research Council (MRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2018 |
| End | 02/2019 |
| Description | PHIND |
| Amount | £149,993 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Medical Research Council (MRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2018 |
| End | 10/2020 |
| Description | Registered Reports Funding: A pilot and feasibility study |
| Amount | £59,605 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | 214528 |
| Organisation | Wellcome Trust |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2018 |
| End | 09/2019 |
| Description | fMRI investigation of the neural mechanisms of Emotional Cognitive Bias Modification as an adjunct therapy to SSRIs in depression. |
| Amount | £532,066 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | MR/S035648/1 |
| Organisation | Medical Research Council (MRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2020 |
| End | 12/2024 |
| Title | Additional file 1 of Investigating the effect of sexual behaviour on oropharyngeal cancer risk: a methodological assessment of Mendelian randomization |
| Description | Additional file 1. Single nucleotide polymorphisms robustly and independently associated with age at first sex, number of sexual partners, risk tolerance, comprehensive smoking index, smoking initiation, drinks per week and educational attainment (years of schooling). |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://springernature.figshare.com/articles/dataset/Additional_file_1_of_Investigating_the_effect_o... |
| Title | Additional file 1 of Role of circulating polyunsaturated fatty acids on cardiovascular diseases risk: analysis using Mendelian randomization and fatty acid genetic association data from over 114,000 UK Biobank participants |
| Description | Additional file 1: Supplementary Tables S1-S11. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://springernature.figshare.com/articles/dataset/Additional_file_1_of_Role_of_circulating_polyun... |
| Title | Additional file 1 of Understanding the nature of association between anxiety phenotypes and anorexia nervosa: a triangulation approach |
| Description | Additional file 1. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://springernature.figshare.com/articles/dataset/Additional_file_1_of_Understanding_the_nature_o... |
| Title | Additional file 2 of Identifying the potential causal role of insomnia symptoms on 11,409 health-related outcomes: a phenome-wide Mendelian randomisation analysis in UK Biobank |
| Description | Additional file 2: Table S1. GWAS significant SNPs in 23&Me used to construct GRS for PheWAS and used to conduct two-sample MR follow-up. *rs28780988 used as a proxy for rs28458909 which was identified as an independent GWAs significant SNP in the clumping of the 23andMe GWAS results but was not available in UK biobank. Table S2. SNPs which were GWAS significant in both UK Biobank/23andMe meta-analysis and 23&Me, used to construct GRS for sensitivity PheWAS analyses. Table S3. Results from the MR-PheWAS and sensitivity analysis 1 and 2 for each outcome (Ordered by the p-value from the main MR-PheWAS). For linear regressions the beta is the mean difference per one standard deviation increase in GRS and for all others the beta is the odds ratio per one standard deviation increase in GRS. Table S4. Quantified details of the total number in each category, number and percentage of outcomes reaching criteria for potential causal effect in each category. Table S5. Quantified details of the total number in each subcategory, number and percentage of outcomes reaching criteria for potential causal effect in each subcategory. Table S6. Follow-up information for associations with Insomnia that passed the Bonferroni-corrected significance threshold in the main MR-PheWAS. Table S7. List of GWAS from TwoSampleMR package v0.5.6 included in follow-up. The potential causal effects from the MR-PheWAS these relate to are in the Outcome column separated by semicolons. Table S8. List of GWAS from TwoSampleMR package v0.5.6 returned in search but not included in follow-up. The Reason column gives the reason for exclusion. Table S9. Results from two-sample MR follow-up for binary outcomes. Table S10. Results from two-sample MR follow-up for continuous outcomes. Table S11. Articles identified in systematic search and included after screening, with a summary of findings. Table S12. Articles identified in systematic search and excluded at full text screening. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://springernature.figshare.com/articles/dataset/Additional_file_2_of_Identifying_the_potential_... |
| Title | Additional file 2 of Investigating the DNA methylation profile of e-cigarette use |
| Description | Additional file 2. Supplementary tables. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://springernature.figshare.com/articles/dataset/Additional_file_2_of_Investigating_the_DNA_meth... |
| Title | Additional file 2 of Investigating the DNA methylation profile of e-cigarette use |
| Description | Additional file 2. Supplementary tables. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://springernature.figshare.com/articles/dataset/Additional_file_2_of_Investigating_the_DNA_meth... |
| Title | Data for: Gene-environment correlations and causal effects of childhood maltreatment on physical and mental health: a genetically informed approach |
| Description | Summary statistics for the GWAS of childhood maltreatment. We have provided anonymised summary statistics. This includes SNP identifiers, chromosome, position, effect allele and non-effect allele, sample size, regression beta, and associated standard errors and p-values. Summary statistics are for the meta-analysis (N = 185,414). A readme is included which provides information about column headings. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/318326 |
| Title | Maternal haemoglobin levels in pregnancy and child DNA methylation: a study in the Pregnancy And Childhood Epigenetics Consortium |
| Description | Altered maternal haemoglobin levels during pregnancy are associated with pre-clinical and clinical conditions affecting the fetus. Evidence from animal models suggests that these associations may be partially explained by differential DNA methylation in the newborn with possible long-term consequences. To test this in humans, we meta-analysed the epigenome-wide associations of maternal haemoglobin levels during pregnancy with offspring DNA methylation in 3,967 newborn cord blood and 1,534 child and 1,962 adolescent whole-blood samples derived from ten cohorts. DNA methylation was measured using Illumina Infinium Methylation450K or MethylationEPIC arrays covering 450,000 and 850,000 methylation sites, respectively. There was no statistical support for association of maternal haemoglobin levels with offspring DNA methylation either at individual methylation sites or clustered in regions. For most participants, maternal haemoglobin levels were within the normal range in the current study, whereas adverse perinatal outcomes often arise at the extremes. Thus, this study does not rule out the possibility that associations with offspring DNA methylation might be seen in studies with more extreme maternal haemoglobin levels. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://tandf.figshare.com/articles/dataset/Maternal_haemoglobin_levels_in_pregnancy_and_child_DNA_m... |
| Title | Maternal haemoglobin levels in pregnancy and child DNA methylation: a study in the pregnancy and childhood epigenetics consortium |
| Description | Altered maternal haemoglobin levels during pregnancy are associated with pre-clinical and clinical conditions affecting the fetus. Evidence from animal models suggests that these associations may be partially explained by differential DNA methylation in the newborn with possible long-term consequences. To test this in humans, we meta-analyzed the epigenome-wide associations of maternal haemoglobin levels during pregnancy with offspring DNA methylation in 3,967 newborn cord blood and 1,534 children and 1,962 adolescent whole-blood samples derived from 10 cohorts. DNA methylation was measured using Illumina Infinium Methylation 450K or MethylationEPIC arrays covering 450,000 and 850,000 methylation sites, respectively. There was no statistical support for the association of maternal haemoglobin levels with offspring DNA methylation either at individual methylation sites or clustered in regions. For most participants, maternal haemoglobin levels were within the normal range in the current study, whereas adverse perinatal outcomes often arise at the extremes. Thus, this study does not rule out the possibility that associations with offspring DNA methylation might be seen in studies with more extreme maternal haemoglobin levels. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://tandf.figshare.com/articles/dataset/Maternal_haemoglobin_levels_in_pregnancy_and_child_DNA_m... |
| Title | Maternal haemoglobin levels in pregnancy and child DNA methylation: a study in the pregnancy and childhood epigenetics consortium |
| Description | Altered maternal haemoglobin levels during pregnancy are associated with pre-clinical and clinical conditions affecting the fetus. Evidence from animal models suggests that these associations may be partially explained by differential DNA methylation in the newborn with possible long-term consequences. To test this in humans, we meta-analyzed the epigenome-wide associations of maternal haemoglobin levels during pregnancy with offspring DNA methylation in 3,967 newborn cord blood and 1,534 children and 1,962 adolescent whole-blood samples derived from 10 cohorts. DNA methylation was measured using Illumina Infinium Methylation 450K or MethylationEPIC arrays covering 450,000 and 850,000 methylation sites, respectively. There was no statistical support for the association of maternal haemoglobin levels with offspring DNA methylation either at individual methylation sites or clustered in regions. For most participants, maternal haemoglobin levels were within the normal range in the current study, whereas adverse perinatal outcomes often arise at the extremes. Thus, this study does not rule out the possibility that associations with offspring DNA methylation might be seen in studies with more extreme maternal haemoglobin levels. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://tandf.figshare.com/articles/dataset/Maternal_haemoglobin_levels_in_pregnancy_and_child_DNA_m... |
| Description | AstraZeneca Postdoctoral Fellowship |
| Organisation | AstraZeneca |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | We are exploring the role of genetic variation in smoking behaviour, using recall-by-genotype and human laboratory designs. |
| Collaborator Contribution | AstraZeneca have provided a postdoctoral research fellow on secondment to my group, and consumables funding, to support this project. This was extended by 1 years to investigate patterns of smoking behaviour in COPD patients. |
| Impact | None yet. |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | BBC Inside Health |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Interview on BBC Inside Health discussing the polarisation of the debate on e-cigarettes for tobacco harm reduction. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Bristol Take Drugs Seriously |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Organised in collaboration with Transform Drug Policy Foundation and the University of the West of England. Main event held in Colston Hall on 23 January 2020 - exhibition, guest lecture (David Nutt) and panel debate. Other events held across week including book launch. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Creative Reactions |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Creative Reactions - a collaboration between artists and scientists, resulting in artworks depicting ongoing research activity. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018,2019 |
| Description | Green Man Festival |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Stall in Einstein's Garden at Green Man Festival, with a number of activities demonstrating research conducted. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | It Takes a Village |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Showcasing research to professional services staff across the University of Bristol to highlight / recognise their contributions to the research process. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Take Drugs Seriously |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | We brought together academics, service providers, practitioners, policy makers and political party groups in Colston Hall to promote conversation on drugs and drug policy and to demonstrate the amount of work that is being achieved in the city. The event comprised of an exhibition, followed by a talk from the former Chair of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, Professor David Nutt, and a panel debate including Professor Nutt, the deputy mayor of Bristol, Cllr Asher Craig, the CEO of Bristol Drugs Project Maggie Telfer, and the Anyone's Child Activist Cara Lavan. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://transformdrugs.org/blog/bristol-take-drugs-seriously |