The Healthy Life in an Urban Setting (HELIUS) study is an ongoing prospective multi-ethnic cohort study, in Amsterdam, The Netherlands that started in 2011. The principle aim of the HELIUS study is to investigate the causes of (the unequal burden of) diseases across ethnic groups, with emphasis on mental disorders, cardiovascular disease and infectious disease, and their interrelationships. Stratified sampling by ethnic group was used to allow for an equal representation of the largest ethnic groups resulting in similar-sized samples of individuals of Dutch, African Surinamese, South-Asian Surinamese, Ghanaian, Turkish and Moroccan origin. A total of 24,780 individuals participated in the baseline examination that consisted of a questionnaire, physical examination and collection of biological material. Follow-up data have been collected through linkage with health care registries and a first follow-up data collection that took part between 2019 and 2022 and included 11,035 participants with an average follow-up time of 6.4 years. The data collection included information on demographics, medical history (including medication use and mental health status), anthropometrics, and fasting blood, urine and stool samples. Here we give an update on the HELIUS study and its methods regarding the first follow-up data collection, data linkage, and additional analyses using stored biomaterials. In addition, we provide a summary of key findings.

The authors have declared no competing interest.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/1471-2458-13-402

The HELIUS study is conducted by the Amsterdam University Medical Center, location AMC and the Public Health Service of Amsterdam. Both organisations provide core support for HELIUS. The HELIUS baseline measurement was additionally funded by the Dutch Heart Foundation, the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMw), the European Union (FP-7), and the European Fund for the Integration of non-EU immigrants (EIF). The HELIUS follow-up measurement was additionally supported by the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMw; 10430022010002), Novo Nordisk (18157/80927), the Swiss National Foundation (189235), University of Amsterdam (Research Priority Area 25-08-2020 Personal Microbiome Health) and the Dutch Kidney Foundation (Collaboration Grant 19OS004).

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The HELIUS study is performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. The HELIUS study has been approved by the Ethical Review Board of the Academic Medical Center Amsterdam (Protocol ID NL32251.018.10; Approval numbers 10/100# 10.17.1729; 2010_100#B201997)

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