The University of Chicago is among five clinical sites conducting a first-of-its-kind study aimed at uncovering risk factors and targeted interventions to better prevent disease in Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (AsA-NHPIs) populations traditionally underrepresented in medical research. The seven-year Multi-ethnic Observational Study in American Asian and Pacific Islander Communities (MOSAAIC) will enroll roughly 10,000 people from areas with large Asian subgroup populations (2,000 will be enrolled in the Chicago area). Information on cardiovascular, lung and mental health, as well as social influences on health (such as access to safe housing, job opportunities, and clean air and water) will be collected. To accomplish this, the UChicago team is collaborating with the Asian Health Coalition (AHC), a Chicago nonprofit founded by former Vice Provost for Research Karen Kim, MD, that supports culturally appropriate health initiatives to eliminate health disparities among AsA-NHPI, African and other underserved communities. The AHC, along with other partnering community-based organizations, will conduct outreach and help recruit participants. Opportunities to support all aspects of the research program are available.

The sampling design supports two analytical objectives:

1) to estimate the prevalence, mean values and distribution of key health and risk factors, with sufficient sample size to stratify by place of origin of major AsA-NHPI subpopulations and other relevant demographic characteristics that are clearly defined, consistently used and transparently presented (e.g., sex, gender, education, occupation, religiosity, income, self-identified race and ethnicity, etc.);

2) to evaluate relationships among baseline risk factors, and relationships of risk factors with health outcomes. Representative samples of participants will be drawn from census tracts in these defined communities and recruited from households using strategies that maximize participation rates, and minimize nonresponse and attrition during follow-up.

The baseline exam include core elements such as questionnaires to assess acculturation, discrimination, social networks, residential history, medical and personal histories, smoking history, sleep, and respiratory questionnaires for history and current symptomology; assessment of body weight and height, blood pressure; ECG; spirometry; urine collection; and phlebotomy for lipids, glucose, and possibly other biomarkers (as funding permits), and biospecimen storage for future use including genomics and multi-omics. Additional questionnaires related to other sociocultural influences, environmental, lifestyle dimensions (e.g., diet, physical activity), psychological and cognitive health may be included.

More information can be accessed here: https://www.uchicagomedicine.org/forefront/research-and-discoveries-articles/2024/june/uchicago-joins-multisite-study

The description of the RFA and goals can be found here: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-HL-23-015.html