Cohort profile: The Westlake BioBank for Chinese (WBBC) pilot cohort: a prospective study for the late adolescence

Purpose 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. The dataset comprises a wide range of demographics, anthropometric measures, physical activity, sleep quality, age at menarche and bone mineral density. Participants A total of 14,726 participants (4,751 males and 9975 females) aged 14 to 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, anthropometric measurements, blood pressure and heart rate, lifestyle and sleep patterns, biological, clinical and health outcomes. Findings to date There were most of the participants were Chinese Han ethnic (97.78%), and more than 60% of them were originally from rural areas. For anthropometry measurements, the mean height and weight were 172.92 cm and 65.81 kg for men, and 160.13 cm and 52.85 kg for women; the mean waist, hip and thigh circumference were 75.51cm, 90.75cm and 51.56 cm in men, and 71.67cm, 89.75cm and 51.68 among women. 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 of serum 25(OH)D level in the 14,726 young participants was 22.39 ng/ml, and male had higher level of serum 25(OH)D than female, overall, 33.47% of the participants had vitamin D deficiency and even more participants suffered from vitamin D insufficiency (58.17%). The proportion of deficiency in women was much higher than that in men (41.83 vs. 16.35%). Future plans WBBC is designed as a prospective cohort study and provides a unique and rich data set analyzing health trajectories of Chinese adolescents to young adults.