The DASH study was designed to systematically examine the influence of social conditions (particularly aspects of family life, school life and neighbourhoods) on the health and well-being of ethnic minority young people. A key aim of the DASH study is to investigate why some ethnic groups experience higher rates of certain diseases than other ethnic groups in adulthood.

The cohort contains over 6, 500 pupils recruited from 51 schools across 10 inner-London boroughs. Pupils were aged 11-13 years old at the start of the study in 2003, and were followed up at 2005/06, 2010-13 and 2012/13. DASH was designed to have a sizeable number of respondents from the major ethnic minority groups and has had high response rates in conventionally thought ‘hard to reach’ populations. Cultural differences within South Asian groups are well known but very little is known about these issues among those of African origin. In DASH, Black Caribbeans, Nigerians, Ghanaians and other Africans can be identified separately so that differences in health and well-being can be explored. The cohort is now in their early 20s and around 81% of the baseline sample has been traced via postal, electronic and web-based strategies.

Socio-demographic, area, family life, social support, health (illness and health behaviour) and psychosocial data were collected from children at baseline and follow-up via self-complete questionnaires. Physical measurements included anthropometry, blood pressure, pubertal stage, lung function and salivary cotinine.

The DASH study provides unique opportunities to better understand the complex interplay of social, biological, and environmental factors for individuals from ethnic minority groups.