Sixty thousand Mirpur residents, followed for decades.

The BELIEVE Urban Study is a large population-based prospective cohort conducted in Mirpur, Dhaka, as part of the broader Bangladesh Longitudinal Investigation of Emerging Vascular and Non-vascular Events. It was initiated in 2016 to establish a high-quality epidemiological platform for long-term research on cardiovascular and metabolic disorders.

The cohort includes 59,844 participants recruited from 31,713 households within the Mirpur urban catchment area. The study is implemented by the Department of Epidemiology and Research at the National Heart Foundation Hospital & Research Institute (NHFH&RI) in collaboration with the University of Cambridge, and is locally led by Professor Sohel Reza Choudhury.

The primary objective is to examine the determinants and progression of major non-communicable diseases — particularly cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension and other metabolic disorders. The study integrates demographic, socioeconomic, behavioural, environmental, clinical and biological data so investigators can explore the complex interactions between social, environmental and biological determinants of disease.

Participants undergo baseline assessment including questionnaire-based interviews, anthropometry, blood pressure evaluation and biological sample collection. Specimens support biochemical testing and advanced molecular analyses — including genomics and proteomics — enabling investigation of the pathways that underlie cardiovascular and metabolic disease.

Follow-up rounds are conducted periodically to identify incident events and track changes in risk profiles. The third round of follow-up is currently under way, with around 50% of participants already reassessed. Findings from the cohort aim to inform national prevention strategies, guide health policy, and strengthen Bangladesh's research capacity in chronic disease epidemiology.

The BELIEVE cohort provides evidence to support national strategies for the prevention and control of cardiovascular and other non-communicable diseases in Bangladesh.

By engaging tens of thousands of residents in Mirpur, the study has created an opportunity for participants to learn more about their own health — through blood-pressure checks and other clinical assessments — and to contribute to research that aims to improve the health of future generations in Bangladesh. Many participants have expressed appreciation for increasing awareness of cardiovascular risk factors, including hypertension and diabetes, within their community.