DOI: 10.5255/ukda-sn-9402-1
title: British Regional Heart Study, 1978-2023: Secure Access
title: BRHS

description: &lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;The &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;British Regional Heart Study&lt;/span&gt; (BRHS) is a long-term cohort investigating the causes and prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in men, and seeking to understand the effect of co-morbidities on CVD and ageing. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;The BRHS provides a geographically and socially representative cohort for the prospective investigation of CVD in British men, spanning over four decades. Established in 1978-80, the BRHS has benefited from four repeated assessments of the men at ages in middle (40-59 years) and later life (60-79, 72-91 and 79-98 years). The study includes detailed assessments of risk factor exposures (established and novel CVD risk factors), physical functioning and detailed follow-up on CVD and related outcomes across the adult life from middle age onwards. It is a unique ageing cohort with extensive phenotyping, genotyping and detailed follow-up, and provides a rich resource for the study of healthy cardiovascular ageing in men, including prevention of CVD, stroke, heart failure diabetes and CVD-related morbidity and conditions in older age (disability, frailty, dementia). The BRHS resource will contribute towards gaining a better understanding of the influence of biological ageing on cardiovascular health and the process that leads to mobility disability and poor quality of life in older adults.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Further information, including links to publications, can be found on
the BRHS webpages at both &lt;a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/population-health-sciences/epidemiology-health-care/research/ucl-research-department-primary-care-and-population-health/research/ageing/british-regional-heart-study-brhs" title="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/population-health-sciences/epidemiology-health-care/research/ucl-research-department-primary-care-and-population-health/research/ageing/british-regional-heart-study-brhs" style=""&gt;UCL&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/population-health-sciences/epidemiology-health-care/research/ucl-research-department-primary-care-and-population-health/research/ageing/british-regional-heart-study-brhs" title="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/population-health-sciences/epidemiology-health-care/research/ucl-research-department-primary-care-and-population-health/research/ageing/british-regional-heart-study-brhs" style=""&gt;
&lt;/a&gt;and &lt;a href="https://research.ncl.ac.uk/brhs/" title="https://research.ncl.ac.uk/brhs/" style=""&gt;Newcastle University&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The BRHS cohort has been followed up through periodic postal questionnaires collecting detailed information on a wide range of health-related behaviours, overall health, diagnoses and self-reported symptoms and social factors. Physical examinations were also conducted for the baseline, 20-year, 30-year and 40-year follow-ups. The BRHS cohort has been followed up through periodic postal questionnaires, which collected detailed information on health-related behaviours, overall health, medical diagnoses, self-reported symptoms, and social factors. Cardiovascular morbidity was ascertained through regular reviews of participants' GP records. Physical examinations were conducted at baseline and at the 20-, 30-, and 40-year follow-ups.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;The collection held at UKDS comprises data from:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;the baseline assessment in 1978-1980 (Q1);&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;follow up postal surveys conducted in 1983-85 (Q5), 1992 (Q92) and 1996 (Q96); &lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;the 20-year follow up assessment in 1998-2000 (Q20); &lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;postal surveys conducted in 2003 (Q2003), 2005 (Q2005) and 2007 (Q2007); &lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;the 30-year follow up assessment in 2010-2020 (Q30), and &lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;follow up postal surveys in 2014 (Q2014), 2015 (Q2015), 2016 (Q2016), 2017 (Q2017);&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;the 40-year follow-up assessment in 2018-19; &lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;postal surveys conducted in 2020 (Q2020) and 2023 (Q2023); and&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;a follow-up for Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) morbidity through General Practice (GP) records.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Secure Access conditions&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;These data are subject to secure access conditions. Use of the data requires approval from the data owner. Registered UKDS users must apply for access via a Secure Access application, and must complete the Safe Researcher Training course.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;