Study to focus on UAE’s healthy future

ABU DHABI — A nation-wide longterm study involving thousands of UAE nationals has been initiated in Abu Dhabi to find the root causes of diabetes and ways to protect the young generation from the disease.

New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) on Sunday announced the launch of the ‘UAE Healthy Future Study’ in an effort to understand why obesity, diabetes and heart disease are common in the UAE.

Researchers are looking forward to recruit 20,000 UAE nationals between the ages of 18 and 40 to take part in the study that will be conducted by experts from NYUAD in collaboration with the NYU Langone Medical Center.

Officials said the UAE Healthy Future Study will enable a range of specialised physicians and scientists to understand the root cause of some of the nation’s most pressing questions on public health today.

The study will also seek to determine how the population of the UAE has come to have one of the highest rates of lifestyle diseases including obesity, diabetes and heart disease, in the world.

The International Diabetes Federation estimates that in 2015, there were 1,086,300 people with diabetes in the UAE, compared with 803,940 in 2014.

The World Health Organisation estimates that about 34.5 per cent of Emiratis are obese and 70.6 per cent are overweight.

And experts attributed the high numbers of obesity and diabetes cases in the country to poor lifestyle including lack of exercise and unhealthy diets.

Brigadier Dr Abdulla Al Naeemi, head of medical department, consultant cardiologist, Zayed Military Hospital, said: “The latest figures on the number of diabetics in the UAE are so shocking and that’s why we have come up with this study to find out the root causes of the disease.

“The findings of this study will help us ensure that future generations of our country lead healthy and long lives.”

According to Al Naeemi, despite the UAE being among countries with the highest rates of obesity, diabetes and heart diseases, no studies have been done which could give reliable answers as to why these diseases are so common.

Principal investigator of the UAE Healthy Future Study and director of the Public Health Research Center at NYU Abu Dhabi, Dr Raghib Ali said: “The UAE Healthy Future Study is a medical research which seeks to determine how the health of 20,000 UAE national men and women, currently aged 18 to 40 is affected by their lifestyle, environment and genes.”

Ali noted that based on the potential outcomes of the national study, they will work towards finding ways to prevent these diseases in the future. He explained that initial findings of the study will be published in 2019.