Cohort profile: the Westlake BioBank for Chinese (WBBC) pilot project

The Westlake BioBank for Chinese (WBBC) pilot cohort is a population-based prospective study with its major purpose to better understand the effect of genetic and environmental factors on growth and development from adolescents to adults.

A total of 14 726 participants (4751 males and 9975 females) aged 14-25 years were recruited and the baseline survey was carried out from 2017 to 2019. The pilot cohort contains rich range of information regarding of demographics and anthropometric measurements, lifestyle and sleep patterns, clinical and health outcomes. Visit the WBBC website for more information (https://wbbc.westlake.edu.cn/index.html).

The mean age of the study samples were 18.6 years for males and 18.5 years for females, respectively. The mean height and weight were 172.9 cm and 65.81 kg for males, and 160.1 cm and 52.85 kg for females. Results indicated that the prevalence of underweight in female was much higher than male, but the prevalence of overweight and obesity in female was lower than male. The mean serum 25(OH)D level in the 14 726 young participants was 22.4±5.3 ng/mL, and male had a higher level of serum 25(OH)D than female, overall, 33.5% of the participants had vitamin D deficiency and even more participants suffered from vitamin D insufficiency (58.2%). The proportion of deficiency in females was much higher than that in males (41.8 vs 16.4%). The issue of underweight and vitamin D deficiency in young people should be paid attention, especially in females. These results reflected the fact that thinness and paler skin are preferred in modern aesthetics of Chinese culture.

WBBC pilot is designed as a prospective cohort study and provides a unique and rich data set analysing health trajectories from adolescents to young adults. WBBC will continue to collect samples with old age.