Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in both females and males globally. The primary causes of CVD are firmly established but CVD prevention remains challenging. A key gap in the understanding of CVD aetiology and prevention opportunities stems from the limited understanding of the sex-specific aetiology of CVD because much early research on CVD was conducted on males. Consequently, studies of the sex-specific aetiology of CVD have been identified as an area of unlocked potential for future CVD prevention.
Socioeconomic inequalities in CVD are well established, known to disproportionately affect females compared with males and are projected to widen further due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, their prevention remains a global challenge. A key challenge in prevention includes a need for life course approaches which begin early in life. However, there is a limited understanding of what stage(s) in life course socioeconomic position most strongly influences CVD risk. In addition, there is limited understanding of the intermediate pathways that link socioeconomic position to CVD risk across the life course. This is critical because developing an in-depth, sex-specific understanding of the intermediate mechanisms that link socioeconomic position and CVD risk across the life course may offer targeted sex-and life stage-specific strategies for population prevention of socioeconomic inequalities in CVD risk.
Using rich longitudinal data from a world-leading UK birth cohort study with 31 years of follow up, SocialPaths will improve understanding of sex-specific socioeconomic pathways to CVD risk using a combination of life course epidemiology and advanced causal inference methods.
Specifically, SocialPaths will:
identify what stage(s) of the life course socioeconomic position most strongly influences sex-specific CVD risk
identify pathways that link socioeconomic position to sex-specific CVD risk
design hypothetical, real-world interventions to prevent socioeconomic inequalities in sex-specific CVD risk.