Population Health Studies

Track 3

Track 3 will investigate the determinants and health consequences of female reproductive health span and lifespan in Asian women, over the life course and across generations, with focus on nutrition, exercise, metabolism, and psychosocial factors in relation to reproductive health and longevity.  This will allow concerted efforts to translate discoveries from the basic and clinical studies into population and public health practices.

Team Lead

Professor Zhang Cuilin

Principal Investigator

Professor Zhang Cuilin MD, PhD, MPH Professor Cuilin Zhang (https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=55646336600) is full professor at the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, and the founding Director of Global Center for Asian Women’s Health, and the Lead for Population Health Studies of Asian Center for Reproductive Longevity and Equity.  Prof. Zhang holds an Adjunct Professorship at the Harvard T.H. Chan School…

Publications & Activities

Temporal patterns of energy intake and cognitive function and its decline: a community-based cohort study in China. Life Metabolism.
 Chen H, Tao Y, Li MD, Gu Y, Yang J, Wu Y, Yu D, Yuan C.
Life Metabolism. 2022 Aug;1(1):94-7

Association of Mushrooms and Algae Consumption with Mortality among Chinese Older Adults: A Prospective Cohort Study
 Shen J, He M, Lv R, Huang L, Yang J, Wu Y, Gu Y, Rong S, Yang M, Yuan C, Zhang R
Nutrients. 2022 Sep 20;14(19):3891

Physical activity and individual plasma phospholipid saturated fatty acids in pregnancy, a longitudinal study among a multiracial/multiethnic cohort in the United States
 Liu X, Chen L, Fei Z, Zhao SK, Zhu Y, Xia T, Dai J, Rahman ML, Wu J, Weir NL, Tsai MY, Zhang C
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2022 Dec;116(6):1729-1737

A longitudinal study on associations of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity with plasma monounsaturated fatty acids in pregnancy
Xia T, Chen L, Fei Z, Liu X, Dai J, Hinkle SN, Zhu Y, Wu J, Weir NL, Tsai MY, Zhang C
Frontiers in Nutrition. 2022;9. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2022.983418

Association of Maternal Caffeine Consumption During Pregnancy With Child Growth
Gleason JL, Sundaram R, Mitro SD, Hinkle SN, Gilman SE, Zhang C, Newman RB, Hunt KJ, Skupski DW, Grobman WA, Nageotte M, Robinson M, Kannan K, Grantz KL
JAMA Network Open. 2022 Oct;5(10):e2239609

Plasma Phospholipids Monounsaturated Fatty Acids and Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: a Longitudinal Study in the NICHD Fetal Growth Studies-Singleton Cohort
Tsoi KY, Zhu Y, Wu J, Sun Q, Hinkle SN, Li LJ, Chen Z, Weir NL, Tsai MY, Ma RC, Zhang C
Diabetes. 2022 Sep:db220241. doi: 10.2337/db22-0241

The association between first-trimester omega-3 fatty acid supplementation and fetal growth trajectories
 Vafai Y, Yeung E, Roy A, He D, Li M, Hinkle SN, Grobman WA, Newman R, Gleason JL, Tekola-Ayele F, Zhang C, Grantz KL
American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology. 2022 Aug:S0002-9378(22)00639-1

Unified Standard for Fetal Growth Velocity: the NICHD Fetal Growth Studies.
Grantz KL, Grewal J, Kim S, Grobman WA, Newman RB, Owen J, Sciscione A, Skupski D, Chien EK, Wing DA, Wapner RJ, Ranzini AC, Nageotte MP, Craigo S, Hinkle SN, D’alton ME, He D, Tekola-Ayele F, Hediger ML, Buck Louis GM, Zhang C, Albert PS.
American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology. 2022 Aug;S0002-9378(22)00611-1.

Habitual coffee consumption and subsequent risk of type 2 diabetes in individuals with a history of gestational diabetes – a prospective study
Yang J, Tobias DK, Li S, Bhupathiraju SN, Ley SH, Hinkle SN, Qian F, Chen Z, Zhu Y, Bao W, Chavarro JE, Hu FB, Zhang C
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2022 Dec;116(6):1693-1703.

Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Among Asians – A Systematic Review From a Population Health Perspective
Li L-J, Huang L, Tobias DK, Zhang C
Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2022 June;13:840331

Modifiable Socioeconomic and Lifestyle Risk Factors with Female Infertility in Asia – A Systematic Review from the Population Health Perspective
Li L-J, Chow A, Gaskins AJ, Lee JNJ, Choolani M, Kennedy BK, Huang Z, Chong YS, Zhang C
Fertility & Sterility Reviews. 2022. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xfnr.2022.09.001.

Physical Activity Before and During Pregnancy and Placental DNA Methylation – An Epigenome Wide Association Study
Zhao SK, Yeung EH, Ouidir M, Hinkle SN, Grantz KL, Mitro SD, Jing W, Stevens DR, Chatterjee S, Tekola-Ayele F, Zhang C.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

Periconceptional and First Trimester Ultraprocessed Food Intake and Maternal Cardiometabolic Outcomes
Yisahak SF, Hinkle SN, Mumford SL, Gleason JL, Grantz KL, Zhang C, Grewal J
Diabetes Care

Retinal microvasculature and time to pregnancy in a multi-ethnic pre-conception cohort in Singapore
Huang L, Loy SL, Chen WQ, Eriksson JG, Chong YS, Huang Z, Chan JKY, Wong TY, Kramer M, Zhang C, Li LJ. 
Hum Reprod. 2021; 36(11):2935-2947. (IF 6.92)

Cumulative Lactation and Clinical Metabolic Outcomes at Mid-Life among Women with a History of Gestational Diabetes
Wander PL, Hinkle SN, Enquobahrie DA, Wu J, Ley SH, Grunnet LG, Chavarro JE, Li M, Bjerregaard AA, Liu A, Damm P, Sherman S, Rawal S, Zhu Y, Chen L, Mills JL, Hu FB, Vaag A, Olsen SF, Zhang C. 
Nutrients. 2022 Feb 3;14(3):650.

Longitudinal Associations of Plasma Phospholipid Fatty Acids in Pregnancy with Neonatal Anthropometry: Results from the NICHD Fetal Growth Studies-Singleton Cohort
Wang E, Zhu Y, Chehab RF, Wu J, Hinkle SN, Weir NL, Bremer AA, Yang J, Chen Z, Tsai MY, Zhang C
Nutrients. 2022 Jan 29;14(3):592.

Plasma folate levels in relation to cognitive impairment: a community-based cohort of older adults in China
Chen X, Yang J, Zhang H, Huang Y, Cao Y, Yan S, Zong G, Zheng Y, Wang X, Yuan C. 
European Journal of Nutrition. 2022 Mar 18. doi: 10.1007/s00394-022-02825-y. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35303753.

Modifiable risk factors and long-term risk of type 2 diabetes among women with a history of gestational diabetes mellitus: a prospective cohort study
Yang J, Qian F, Chavarro JE, Ley SH, Tobias DK, Yeung E, Hinkle SN, Bao W, Li M, Liu A, Mills JL, Sun Q, Willett WC, Hu FB, Zhang C
BMJ. 2022 Sep;378:e070312

Plasma phospholipid polyunsaturated fatty acids composition in early pregnancy and fetal growth trajectories throughout pregnancy: Findings from the US fetal growth studies-singletons cohort
Li LJ, Wu J, Chen Z, Weir NL, Tsai MY, Albert P, Zhang C
EBioMedicine. 2022 July;82:104180.

Lifestyle Changes and Long-term Weight Gain in Women With and Without a History of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: A Prospective Study of 54,062 Women in the Nurses’ Health Study II.
Yang J, Zhang C, Chavarro JE, Rich-Edwards JW, Wang M, Fawzi WW, Manson JE, Lee IM, Hu FB, Tobias DK.
Diabetes Care 2022 Feb;45(2):348-56.

Research Initiatives

Planning of PCOS cohort study
Zhongwei Huang, Cuilin Zhang

Asian Forward Diet and Reproductive Health (a pilot intervention study)
Cuilin Zhang, Yap Seng Chong, Lingjun Li, Zhongwei Huang, Jiaxi Yang