Research area: Infection, Immunity and Global Health > Inflammatory Origins

About the LIQUID Study

LIQUID (Lifecourse Quantification of Inflammation and cardiometabolic health) is a major international research collaboration examining how inflammation shapes heart and metabolic health from early life through to older adulthood.

Inflammation is a natural defence mechanism that helps the body respond to infection or injury. But when inflammation becomes chronic or poorly regulated, it may contribute to the development of cardiovascular diseases, including heart attacks and strokes.

Although these diseases are usually diagnosed later in life, the inflammation that contributes to them may begin in childhood and continue across the lifespan. However, we still lack a detailed understanding of how inflammation develops in children, adolescents and young adults, and how it connects to heart and metabolic health later on.

The LIQUID study aims to fill this gap.

Research aims

LIQUID brings together 17 international cohort studies with data on nearly 800,000 individuals that track inflammation and cardiometabolic health from birth through older age. By analysing these datasets, LIQUID aims to understand:

• The relationships between commonly used markers of inflammation.
• The relationship between inflammation markers and early measures of cardiovascular and metabolic health, and cardiovascular disease events.
• The extent to which inflammation is involved in the effects of socioeconomic disadvantage, infection burden, clinical obesity, and common cardiovascular disease risk factors on cardiovascular and metabolic health.
  
  

Why this study matters

Cardiovascular diseases remain the leading cause of death worldwide.

By understanding the link between inflammation and cardiovascular health across the lifespan, we may be able to identify what drives cardiovascular disease and when targeted interventions may be most effective, or when people are most at risk.

Understanding when, how, and why inflammation contributes to these diseases could help identify:

• critical periods for prevention,
• early markers of risk, and
• new opportunities for intervention before disease develops.

By studying inflammation across the life course, LIQUID aims to support earlier, more effective strategies to reduce the global burden of cardiovascular disease.

Lead researchers

Our research is led by:

• Dr Toby Mansell, Senior Research Officer, Inflammatory Origins, Infection, Immunity and Global Health
• Professor Dave Burgner, Group Leader, Inflammatory Origins, Infection, Immunity and Global Health
  
  

Collaborating cohorts 

Cohorts contributing data on inflammation and cardiovascular health to the LIQUID Study include:

• Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, ALSPAC, United Kingdom
• Barwon Infant Study, Australia
• Born in Bradford, United Kingdom
• Caerphilly Prospective Study, United Kingdom
• CHILD study, Canada
• Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood, COPSAC, Denmark
• Estonian National Biobank
• Longitudinal Study of Australian Children Child Health CheckPoint, Australia
• Medical Research Council National Survey of Health and Development, United Kingdom
• Northern Finnish Birth Cohorts, Finland
• Physical Activity and Nutrition in Children Study, PANIC, Finland
• The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study, Finland
• THL Biobank, Finland
• UK Biobank, United Kingdom
• Special Turku Coronary Risk Factor Intervention Project, STRIP, Finland
• Southall And Brent REvisited, SABRE Study, United Kingdom
  
  

Contact us

For more information on this study, please contact us.

Dr Toby Mansell, Senior Research Officer
Email: show email address