HELIUS
Healthy life in an urban setting
The HELIUS infrastructure comprises extensive health data of ~25,000 of Turkish, Moroccan, African Surinamese, South-Asian Surinamese, Ghanaian, and Dutch origin participants, living in Amsterdam. HELIUS focuses on multiple disease categories, e.g. cardiovascular, mental and infectious diseases. Participants provide information on presence (or symptoms) of these diseases, and risk factors (e.g. lifestyle, migration, healthcare use). During baseline (2011-2015) and follow-up physical examination (2019-2022), biological samples (blood, urine, feces) were collected, and measurements such as anthropometry and blood pressure were obtained. Data are also collected through linkages with registries.
Infrastructure and User Services
Approximately 25,000 participants are included in HELIUS, with a similar distribution of participants of Turkish, Moroccan, African Surinamese, South-Asian Surinamese, Ghanaian, and Dutch origin. Ethnic origin is determined from a person’s country of birth and that of his/her parents. Subjects were randomly sampled, stratified by ethnic origin, from those aged 18–70 years listed in the Amsterdam Municipal Register.
-Participants provide information on the presence (or symptoms) of disease using validated questionnaires, risk factors for these diseases (e.g. lifestyle, migration, health care use) and medication. During baseline (2011-2015) and follow-up physical examination (2019-2022), biological samples (blood, urine, feces) were collected, and measurements such as anthropometry, handgrip strength, blood pressure, electrocardiogram, arterial stiffness were obtained.
-In different subsamples, additional data/samples were collected: dietary intake (n≈5,000), endothelial glycocalyx (n≈5,000), DNA samples (n=25.000 of which currently in 10.000 subjects GWAS data (GSA array) are available), feces samples (n≈6,000 baseline and n≈8000 follow-up), health literacy test (n≈10,000), nasal and throat swabs (n≈7,000).
- In addition, participants’ data are and will be linked to registry data for routinely collected data on health outcomes and health care (e.g. mortality, hospital admission) at the individual level.
-For a complete overview of the design and variables see Stronks et al. (BMC Public Health 2013), Snijder et al (BMJ Open 2017), and Galenkamp et al. (2024) (https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.07.16.24310494v1)
All researchers of academic and non-academic groups/institutes (both nationally and internationally) interested in performing health research fitting the general aim of the HELIUS study may be users of the HELIUS infrastructure.
Examples/description of the type of research
The unique ethnic differentiation in the HELIUS infrastructure has been and can be utilized for scientific research in two ways. First, the HELIUS infrastructure can be used to investigate which factors possibly explain ethnic inequalities in health, such as socio-economic factors, culture, migration history, ethnic identity, discrimination, and genetic factors. Second, the HELIUS infrastructure provides an excellent opportunity to study the aetiology of medical conditions, because ethnic variation amplifies variations in underlying risk factors, facilitating the study of those risk factors. HELIUS thus contributes to the evidence base for the prevention of diseases and promotion of population health in general, and the reduction of ethnic inequalities in health in particular.
How to access the infrastructure?
Most of the data requests that we receive can be facilitated by sharing a data set, or a set of biological samples. In some cases we provide remote access to the Amsterdam UMC environment.