>>EYHS project

Exercise Health and Technology Center (EHT) and Centre of Research in Childhood Health at Institute of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics at University of Southern Denmark (SDU) are currently collaborating on a project entitled European Youth Heart Study (EYHS).

EYHS Project:

The EYHS is a prospective cohort study with extensive international collaboration. The primary aim of the project is to examine the nature, strength, and interactions between personal, environmental, and lifestyle influences on cardiovascular disease risk factors in a large sample of children from different cultures, ages and sex. The project has yielded significant findings and the results have been published in more than one hundred high-quality research articles in the Lancet, BMJ, PlosMed and other top medical journals. Research has been funded by the participating countries themselves. The project has complete research programs and testing methods for use in the participating countries. Once a country has obtained a permission to participate, the collected data will be shared between the participant countries and a joint analysis is performed. The project has applied for funding from the Horizon 2020, and it is expected that more countries will be joining. Currently, EYHS invite countries outside Europe to participate in the research project. China has joined in this project since the end of 2014.

Participating countries：

Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Madeira Islands, Aishaliya, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Austria, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, France, Norway, Russia, Scotland, Spain, Romania, Greece, China.

The main purpose：

The aim of EYHS is to examine the nature, strength, and interactions between personal, environmental, and lifestyle influences on cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in children. The new round of research will expand the scope and content of research, such as increasing the study of brain function (cognitive function) related indicators.

Subjects：9-year-old and 15-year-old children.

Study design：repeated observational study.

Samples per country：≥ 1000

Follow-up：Every six years

National team leaders：

Norway: Sigmund Anderssen, Norweigan School of Sports Sciences (NIH)

Denmark: Anders Grøntved, University of Southern Denmark (SDU)

Portugal: Luis Sardinha, University of Lisbon (UL)

Iceland: Erlingur Johannesson, University of Iceland (UI)

China: Sulin Cheng, Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) and University of Jyväskylä

Scientific committee：

Anders Grøntved (chair), SDU

Sigmund Anderssen, NIH

Luis Sardinha, UL

Erlingur Johannesson, UI

Sulin Cheng, SJTULars Bo Andersen, SDU

Ulf Ekelund, NIH

University of Southern Denmark：

University of Southern Denmark provides complete research protocol and testing methods, and help in training the researchers, which ensure China's study and data collection will be done in line with the EYHS protocol. University of Southern Denmark will provide the necessary assistance in data processing and analysis.