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In the 1990s, CTSU established a collaborative meta-analysis of data on over one million individuals in prospective observational studies of blood pressure, cholesterol and cause-specific mortality conducted throughout the world, and this provided - for the first time - appropriately reliable and unbiased estimates of the age- and sex-specific relevance of those risk factors to particular causes of death.

During 13 million person-years of follow-up there were 120,000 deaths including 55,000 vascular deaths (34,000 ischaemic heart disease, 12,000 stroke, 10,000 other vascular).

The specific aim of the Prospective Studies Collaboration was to establish statistically reliable estimates of the effects of established risk factors (particularly blood pressure and cholesterol, but also body mass index and diabetes) on the risks of dying from specific vascular diseases in different circumstances (for example, at different ages, and at different levels of other risk factors).

 

Blood pressure and vascular mortality:

Body Mass Index (BMI) and cause-specific mortality:

Cholesterol and vascular mortality

The Prospective Studies Collaboration was supported by the UK Medical Research Council, the British Heart Foundation, and European Union (EU BIOMED).

Background

Our team

  • Rory Collins
    Rory Collins

    Head of Oxford Population Health and BHF Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology

  • Sarah Lewington
    Sarah Lewington

    Professor of Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, Director of Graduate Studies (Taught courses)

  • Richard Peto
    Richard Peto

    Emeritus Professor of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology

Related research themes