Advancing Methods for Integrated Analysis of 24-hour Behavioral Patterns: The Role of Diet, Physical Activity, and Sleep

May 2023 Council

Lead Division/Office

OOR, DDN, DEM

Point(s) of Contact

Mary Evans

Executive Summary

Diet, physical activity/sedentary behavior, and sleep are modifiable risk factors that play a role in the etiology and prevention of many chronic diseases, including overweight/obesity, diabetes, cardiometabolic diseases, NAFLD, and cancer. Many NIH-supported studies have collected data on these behaviors in relation to a variety of health outcomes, however, our understanding of how these interconnected modifiable risk factors impact health in diverse populations is limited. An opportunity exists to use data science approaches to integrate these behaviors across the 24-hour day and to examine their relationship with health outcomes. This initiative would support a trans-NIH consortium of three research centers and a coordinating center using computational approaches to integrate existing temporally collected data on diet, physical activity, and sleep to evaluate their association with health outcomes. When available, contextual and other data could also be incorporated into analytical algorithms. The ultimate goals of this initiative would be to produce guidance and best practices for the joint collection and analysis of diet, physical activity, and sleep data in future NIH-supported research studies and to provide training and workforce development activities to support future generations of researchers with knowledge and training necessary to analyze data from these linked behaviors.