First-of-its-Kind National Health Study to Enlist 20,000 Emiratis

NYU Abu Dhabi led UAE Healthy Future Study Partners with Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi to Establish Registration and Assessment Center at Region’s Leading Critical Care Hospital

Abu Dhabi, August 13, 2017:  An influential new study into the root causes behind high levels of diabetes, obesity, and heart disease in the UAE has established a new registration and assessment center at the region’s leading critical care hospital, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi.

UAE Nationals interested in taking part in the country’s first UAE Healthy Future Study, which will enlist 20,000 Emiratis in an effort to establish the extent to which genetics and lifestyle conditions affect the long-term health of Nationals, can now sign up to take part at a convenient new registration and assessment center located close to Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi’s main reception area. 

Investigators from NYU Abu Dhabi and the NYU Langone Medical Center have collaborated with local partners in Abu Dhabi to conduct the long-term study and are looking to recruit 20,000 UAE Nationals between the ages of 18 and 40.

Operational since July 2017, the UAE Healthy Future registration and assessment center will enable seamless registration of participants through a process involving the completion of a questionnaire, as well as the provision of body measurements and samples of blood, urine, and saliva.  

Participants will then be observed over several years with follow-up online questionnaires and clinic visits to understand the role of both genetics and lifestyle choices in causing obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.

Dr. Raghib Ali, principal investigator of the UAE Healthy Future Study and director of the Public Health Research Center at NYU Abu Dhabi, said: “Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi has great strengths in clinical research which complement those at NYUAD and our other partners, and we are delighted to be working with them to improve the health of the people of the UAE through this study.”

Initiated in 2014, the UAE Healthy Future Study will enable a range of specialized physicians and scientists to understand the root causes of some of the nation’s most pressing questions on public health today. The study will seek to determine how the population of the UAE has come to have one of the highest rates of lifestyle diseases in the world, including obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. 

The study is being conducted in collaboration with Zayed Military Hospital, the Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (SEHA), Sheikh Khalifa Medical City (SKMC), Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, Healthpoint Hospital, Abu Dhabi Blood Bank, Al Ain Regional Blood Bank, UAE University, Khalifa University, and Zayed University in Abu Dhabi. 

At the core of this initiative is a collective effort toward building a healthier future for the UAE – a cause uniting physicians and scientists from across the nation.