Version: 1.0.0 | Published: 17 Sep 2025 | Updated: 81 days ago
BELIEVE BangladEsh Longitudinal Investigation of Emerging Vascular Events
Dataset
Documentation
Associated Media:
Description:
The BELIEVE (Bangladesh Early Life Interventions and Evaluation) study is a large-scale, population-based cohort that has recruited approximately 73,800 participants across rural and urban regions of Bangladesh. The study aims to understand risk factors and outcomes related to non-communicable diseases (NCDs), particularly cardiometabolic conditions, and provides a uniquely rich longitudinal dataset for global health research. We welcome potential collaboration with other researchers. Data is available on application to the study’s Data Access Committee.
Data and samples
Researchers can request access to the following datasets collected as part of BELIEVE:
Phenotypic and Questionnaire Data
Sociodemographic and socioeconomic status
Medical and family history
Lifestyle factors: physical activity, diet (food frequency, food group usage), sleep, tobacco use
Reproductive history and anthropometry
Mobile phone use and digital access
Disease outcomes:
Diabetes (via HbA1c and self-report)
Hypertension
Cardiovascular disease
Stroke
Chronic kidney disease
Respiratory disease
Other self-reported symptoms and conditions
Biomarker and Omics Data
HbA1c: ~74,000 participants
Whole blood counts: subset available
Lipid profile (total cholesterol, HDL, LDL, triglycerides, fructosamine): ~74,000
Environmental exposures:
Arsenic in blood (n=500)
Arsenic in nails (n=500)
Heavy metals in nails (n=4,000)
Genomics:
Whole Exome Sequencing (WES): ~73,000
Methylation data: ~1,000 in pipeline
Proteomics:
Olink (~3,300 samples)
SomaLogic (~10,000 samples)
Metabolomics:
Nightingale (1,300 analytes): ~74,000
Glycomics: ~2,000 participants (IgG and plasma N-glycans)
Coverage
Spatial:
Bangladesh
Pathway:
Between January 2016 and March 2020, the BELIEVE prospective cohort study
recruited 73 883 participants from 30 817 households across three different
settings in Bangladesh: urban (Mirpur-Dhaka), rural (Matlab-Chandpur) and
urban-poor (Bauniabadh-Dhaka).
Provenance
Origin
Purposes:
Research cohort
Sources:
Electronic survey
Collection Situations:
Cohort, study, trial
Temporal
Accrual Periodicity:
Other
Start Date:
30 December 2016
Time Lag:
Not applicable
Accessibility
Access
Access Rights:
Data are available on reasonable request. Data are available upon application to the study’s Steering and Data Access Committee.
Access Service:
Researchers around the world can enquire about accessing the data from BELIEVE
for their own research projects. Access to all samples and de-identified data
(without any identifiable details such as the participants name or date of
birth) is strictly controlled by a formal Data Access Committee.
Access Request Cost:
Cost recovery.
Delivery Lead Time:
2-6 months
Jurisdictions:
UK
Data Controller:
The University of Cambridge
Data Processor:
The University of Cambridge
Usage
Data Use Limitations:
General research use
Format and Standards
Languages:
en
Formats:
csv