Comparative effects of major risk factors on fatal and non-fatal outcomes in Mexican adults
- 8 September 2025 to 2 December 2025
- Project No: D26026
- DPhil Project 2026
- Clinical Trial Service Unit and Epidemiological Studies Unit (CTSU) Mexico City Prospective Study
Background
Large population-based prospective cohort studies are a useful way to determine the impact of many slow-acting causes of disease (such as smoking and excess adiposity). However, they have disproportionately focused on high-income, European-ancestry populations. Studies in populations that differ in their healthcare settings and exposures to risk factors are needed to fully understand the causes of human disease worldwide.
The Mexico City Prospective Study (MCPS) addresses this gap. Between 1998-2004, it recruited ~150,000 adults aged >35 years from two Mexico City districts. At enrolment, participants provided information on socio-demographic and lifestyle characteristics, disease history and medication, had physical measurements taken, and gave a blood sample. Participants have been followed for over 20 years for cause-specific mortality, with >30,000 deaths recorded.
In the past five years, a large-scale follow-up survey has collected data on non-fatal disease outcomes. By April 2025, information had been collected for over 60,000 participants, gathered either directly or via proxy respondents. These data will greatly increase power to examine relationships between important risk factors and disease.
research experience, research methods and skills training
This project will investigate the contribution of major risk factors to the development of fatal and non-fatal diseases in MCPS, focusing on vascular, metabolic, and kidney diseases and their complications. While there is some flexibility in the scope, the primary risk factors of interest are expected to include:
- Lifestyle factors: smoking, alcohol consumption, and physical activity
- Physical measurements: adiposity and blood pressure
- Medical history: particularly diabetes
- Biomarkers: such as blood lipids and markers of renal function
A key component will be addressing methodological challenges related to differences in how fatal and non-fatal outcomes are recorded. For example, variations in follow-up time and differences in how non-fatal outcomes are reported (e.g., self-reported vs proxy-reported) may influence results and will need to be considered.
The student will develop strong skills in epidemiological research and methodology, systematic reviews, statistical programming and data analysis, and scientific writing and communication. They will be supported in presenting their work at national and international conferences and in publishing peer-reviewed articles based on their DPhil research.
FIELD WORK, SECONDMENTS, INDUSTRY PLACEMENTS AND TRAINING
The project will be based within the MCPS group in the Clinical Trial Service Unit & Epidemiological Studies Unit, a world-class community for population health research. In-house training in statistical and epidemiological methods, programming, and scientific writing will be provided.
PROSPECTIVE STUDENT
The ideal candidate will have an MSc in epidemiology, statistics, biomedical sciences or a related subject, and proficiency with programing analyses in R, Python, STATA or SAS.