Our Future Health

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Our Future Health is a British health research project which aims to recruit 5 million people "to develop new ways to prevent, detect and treat diseases". [1] [2] [3] [4] It is a registered charity in England and Wales [5] and in Scotland, [6] and a private limited company. [7] The charity and company were originally known as Early Disease Detection Research Project UK (EDRP UK) and the project as Accelerating Detection of Disease (ADD). [8] [9]

The project aims to improve the early diagnosis and treatment of diseases. The project chair, Sir John Bell, said that the project aims "to try and create a sandbox for testing and evaluating these early diagnostic or prevention strategies across a large population of people ... And we'll be able to use that population to help us evaluate these new tools, diagnose disease early, prevent disease more effectively, and intervene at an earlier stage". [2]

Participation in the project is open to anyone aged over 18 and living in the United Kingdom. Participants are asked to complete a questionnaire about their health and lifestyle, and to attend a clinic to give a blood sample and have physical measurements taken. [10] Clinics to enrol people into the project and take the initial blood sample were set up at venues including university campuses [11] and branches of Boots, [12] and people taking part in NHS Blood and Transplant may also choose to enrol. [13]

De-identified data and samples provided by participants are shared with approved researchers at universities and in industry. [14] [15] Part of each blood sample is used for DNA analysis, with the results stored in the participant's record; the project may also use SNP array and genomic sequencing methods. [10] Specific genetic data, linked to the individual, may be shared with NHS Blood and Transplant. [16]

Participation continues throughout the individual's lifetime and after their death [16] but volunteers may withdraw from the project at any time. [17] As well as providing samples and personal data from questionnaires, surveys and feedback, participants agree to allow the project to access their present and future records held by the NHS. [16]

The project has the support of the government, the life sciences industry, the NHS, and charities such as Alzheimer's Society, British Heart Foundation, and Cancer Research UK. [2] £79 million was provided by the UK government via the UK Research and Innovation body, and in early 2022 a further £100 million was expected from the life sciences industry. [14]

Recruitment to the study began in late 2022. [18] In November 2023, it was announced that Our Future Health had recruited 1 million volunteers. [19] The same month it was announced that data on the first 100,000 volunteers suggested that "Most adults in the UK should be receiving treatment for high cholesterol but are not, while a quarter have untreated high blood pressure". [20] In October 2024 it was announced that 1 million volunteers had given blood samples. Dr Raghib Ali, the CEO of Future Health, said "We can now say that Our Future Health is the world's largest health research programme of its kind. No other programme has collected this many blood samples for long-term research." [21] [22]

The name "Our Future Health" and the visual branding (using "A mosaic of simple patterned tiles that can be combined and configured in endless variation and at different scales") were developed with Manchester-based branding company True North. [23]

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References

  1. ↑ "Home page". Our Future Health. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 Davis, Nicola (24 October 2022). "Millions invited to take part in UK scheme to diagnose diseases earlier". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
  3. ↑ Lomas, David (10 November 2022). "Opinion: Take part in Our Future Health". UCL School of Life and Medical Sciences. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
  4. ↑ "Our Future Health: Get involved in research to detect and prevent health conditions earlier". Diabetes UK. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
  5. ↑ "Our Future Health, registered charity no. 1189681". Charity Commission for England and Wales.
  6. ↑ "Our Future Health, registered charity no. SC050917". Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator.
  7. ↑ "Our Future Health: Company number 12212468". Companies House. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
  8. ↑ "Get involved in UK's largest ever health programme". www.ukri.org. UK Research and Innovation. 24 September 2020. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
  9. ↑ "Early Disease Detection Research Project UK". Perrett Laver. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
  10. 1 2 "Taking part". Our Future Health. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
  11. ↑ "UK's largest health research programme opens clinic on campus". forstaff.leeds.ac.uk. University of Leeds. 1 March 2023. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
  12. ↑ "Our Future Health". www.boots.com. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
  13. ↑ "Participant privacy notice". Our Future Health. Retrieved 19 December 2023.
  14. 1 2 "UK's largest health research programme prevents and treats disease". UKRI. 18 January 2022. Retrieved 19 December 2023.
  15. ↑ "How we make data available for research". Our Future Health. Retrieved 19 December 2023.
  16. 1 2 3 "Ethics and governance framework" (PDF). Our Future Health. April 2021. p. 20. Retrieved 19 December 2023.
  17. ↑ "How can I leave the programme?". Our Future Health. Retrieved 19 December 2023.
  18. ↑ Mundasad, Smitha (24 October 2022). "Health of nation study calls on millions to sign up". BBC News. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
  19. ↑ Walsh, Fergus (6 November 2023). "Our Future Health: One million sign up to help change healthcare". BBC News. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
  20. ↑ "Our Future Health: Most have high cholesterol, health project suggests". BBC News. 6 November 2023. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
  21. ↑ "Our Future Health becomes world's largest research programme of its kind". Our Future Health. Retrieved 17 October 2024.
  22. ↑ Massey, Nina (15 October 2024). "UK's largest ever research programme could be 'game changer' for cancer". The Standard. Retrieved 17 October 2024.
  23. ↑ "Our Future Health: branding and brand strategy". True North. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
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