China Kadoorie Biobank

The China Kadoorie Biobank is acquiring genomic data on half a million Chinese participants. In 2022 Genome-wide genotyping had been conducted for more than 100,000 participants using custom-designed Axiom® arrays. [1]

It collected questionnaire and physical data and blood samples on 510,000 men and women aged between 30 and 79 from 10 regions in China between 2004-2008 with the aim of investigating chronic diseases (e.g. heart attack, stroke, diabetes, and cancer). Participants have been linked to mortality registers and nationwide health systems and a sub-group of 25,000 are retested every few years. It is a joint venture by the University of Oxford’s Clinical Trial Service Unit & Epidemiological Studies Unit and the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. [2]

Research based on the biobank published by the American Thoracic Society in 2018 found that respiratory disease hospitalization or death were 36% higher among people who used wood or coal for cooking compared to those who used electricity or gas.[3]

A study published in Heart based on the biobank found that people who ate an egg a day had a lower incidence of cardiovascular disease overall than those who ate no eggs. They had a 25% lower incidence of hemorrhagic stroke, and a 12% reduction in risk of ischemic heart disease.[4]

A study published in 2022 examined the relative risk of mortality associated with five individual and combined lifestyle factors - never smoking or quitting not for illness, no excessive alcohol use, being physically active, healthy eating habits, and healthy body shape - and established that they could be associated with substantial gains in life expectancy in the Chinese population.[5]