Health experts believe a groundbreaking new study launched by the Glasgow Centre for Population Health, and led by University of Glasgow researchers, this week will help reveal more about the health of Glasgow's population than ever before.

The pSoBid ("so-bid") study is looking at all of the factors affecting health - people's psychological profile, their biological state and social status - in one study of 720 Glasgow people. The Centre believes this is the first time such a study has been carried out anywhere in the world.

Dr Harry Burns, Scotland's Chief Medical Officer and Honorary Visiting Professor at the University of Glasgow has been closely involved in the development of the study from the outset. He said: "As Director of Public Health for Glasgow I spent a lot of time analysing the health problems of Glasgow and thinking about the best way of improving the city's health. The pSoBid study offers exciting prospects that we will finally gain an understanding of the way in which social conditions cause a variety of serious illnesses and increased mortality in the city. This study has huge implications not only for Scotland but for countries around the world".

The pSoBid1 study is testing the theory that chronic stress and poverty directly bring about biological changes that are damaging to individuals' health. For example, stress causes telomeres, a part of the DNA, to be shortened, leading to biological ageing, reduced lifespan and increased risk of disease. A range of psychological and cognitive factors may, however, influence this relationship and help to lessen the health effects of long-term stress and disadvantage.

Prof Chris Packard, Professor of Vascular Biochemistry at the University of Glasgow and Principal Investigator for the pSoBid study said: "The study has been established to address the needs of the whole person, recognising that social, psychological and biological factors all play a part in determining someone's well-being or ill-health. Heart disease, our biggest problem, is an example where inherited factors, environmental stress and lifestyle can all combine to give a high risk of a heart attack or stroke. We wish to use state of the art techniques to build a picture of the health of arteries in those from well-off and not so well-off parts of the city. The degree of hardening of the arteries will then be related to mental outlook and social conditions. To make our project work we need the co-operation of all those invited to take part. In this way our survey will be as representative as possible of the people in Glasgow and the West of Scotland".

Dr Carol Tannahill, Director of the Glasgow Centre for Population Health said: "Glasgow is well known around the world for its poor health record. While we understand the effects of smoking, poor diet and lack of exercise on the diseases that affect people in the city, there is a great deal that we don't yet know about how a person's situation affects his or her health. The pSoBid study is looking at how people's circumstances in childhood and adulthood, together with their outlook and lifestyle, are related to biological changes that are useful early markers of ill-health".

The results of the study will be available in early 2007 and will help experts plan health improvement for the Glasgow population.

For more details contact Val Millar at the Centre for Population Health on 0141 221 9439.

The Glasgow Centre for Population Health (www.gcph.co.uk) is a research and development organisation set up in 2004 as part of the Scottish Executive?s programme to step up health improvement in Scotland. The Centre is a partnership between NHS Greater Glasgow, Glasgow City Council and the University of Glasgow, supported by the Scottish Executive.

First published: 20 December 2005