A new metabolic risk score to predict heart disease in Yup’ik Alaska Native adults
Official title: A generalizable framework for the development of a Continuous Metabolic Syndrome Risk Score in small populations.
Funded at University of Alabama at Birmingham · NIH-11438029 · Data updated 2026-11-12
A new, questions-free way to measure heart-disease risk in Yup’ik Alaska Native adults by combining everyday health clues with home-life factors.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R21 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Alabama at Birmingham NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Birmingham, United States) |
| Project start | September 1, 2026 |
| Project end | February 29, 2028 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $201,362 |
| NIH project number | 1R21MD021564-01 |
| Project ID | NIH-11438029 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are Yup’ik Alaska Native adults who have or are at risk for metabolic syndrome or cardiometabolic disease.
✕Less likely to help
Patients outside the Yup’ik Alaska Native population or those without cardiometabolic risk factors may not benefit from this score.
What this research studies
This project creates a continuous metabolic syndrome risk score tailored for Yup’ik Alaska Native adults by blending traditional health markers with household income, food security, stress, tobacco use, and cultural resilience. Researchers will use advanced statistics on clinical data to build and test a sex-specific score that goes beyond traditional binary criteria. The goal is to identify subtle changes in risk over time so clinicians can intervene earlier and more precisely. The work focuses on communities in Alaska and aims to improve prevention of heart disease in a population that bears a higher burden of cardiometabolic risk.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the score could help clinicians better identify people at rising risk for heart disease and tailor early prevention efforts.
How similar studies have gone: Previous work shows that continuous risk scores can outperform binary criteria in predicting disease, but this specific population and integration of socioeconomic and cultural factors are novel.
Where this research is happening
-
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Birmingham, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Tiwari, Hemant K. — University of Alabama at Birmingham
- Study coordinator: Tiwari, Hemant K.
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.