Indian Migration Study

The Indian Migration Study (IMS) was established in 2005-7 to investigate the effects of rural-urban migration on chronic disease risk in India. It used a sibling pair design, comparing chronic disease risk factors in migrant urban factory workers and their spouses with that of their siblings who still lived in rural areas (non-migrants). The study was funded by the Wellcome Trust (UK).

Urban participants were recruited from factories in Lucknow, Nagpur, Hyderabad and Bangalore. Their rural-dwelling siblings came from 18 of the 28 states in India. A sample of workers who had always lived in urban areas and their urban-dwelling siblings were also recruited. All participants (6,510 in total) answered questions about their diet and physical activity, had anthropometric measurements taken and gave blood samples.

We are willing to share Indian Migration Study data with bona fide researchers. Please complete and submit the IMS Collaborator Form.

More information on the study methods and results can be found in its journal publications:

The effect of rural-to-urban migration on obesity and diabetes in India: a cross-sectional study. Ebrahim S, Kinra S, Bowen L, Andersen E, Ben-Shlomo Y, Lyngdoh T, Ramakrishnan L, Ahuja RC, Joshi P, Das SM, Mohan M, Davey Smith G, Prabhakaran D, Reddy KS; Indian Migration Study group.PLoS Med. 2010 Apr 27;7(4):e1000268. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1000268.

Association between urban life-years and cardiometabolic risk: the Indian migration study. Kinra S, Andersen E, Ben-Shlomo Y, Bowen L, Lyngdoh T, Prabhakaran D, Reddy KS, Ramakrishnan L, Bharathi A, Vaz M, Kurpad A, Smith GD, Ebrahim S; Indian Migration Study Group. Am J Epidemiol. 2011 Jul 15;174(2):154-64. doi: 10.1093/aje/kwr053. Epub 2011 May 27.

Sib-recruitment for studying migration and its impact on obesity and diabetes. Lyngdoh T, Kinra S, Shlomo YB, Reddy S, Prabhakaran D, Smith GD, Ebrahim S; Indian migration study group. Emerg Themes Epidemiol. 2006 Mar 13;3:2.

Dietary intake and rural-urban migration in India: a cross-sectional study. Bowen L, Ebrahim S, De Stavola B, Ness A, Kinra S, Bharathi AV, Prabhakaran D, Reddy KS. PLoS One. 2011;6(6):e14822. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0014822. Epub 2011 Jun 22.

Evaluation of seven common lipid associated loci in a large Indian sib pair study. Rafiq S, Venkata KK, Gupta V, Vinay DG, Spurgeon CJ, Parameshwaran S, Madana SN, Kinra S, Bowen L, Timpson NJ, Smith GD, Dudbridge F, Prabhakaran D, Ben-Shlomo Y, Reddy KS, Ebrahim S, Chandak GR; Indian Migration Study Group. Lipids Health Dis. 2012 Nov 14;11:155. doi: 10.1186/1476-511X-11-155.

Association study of 25 type 2 diabetes related Loci with measures of obesity in Indian sib pairs. Gupta V, Vinay DG, Sovio U, Rafiq S, Kranthi Kumar MV, Janipalli CS, Evans D, Mani KR, Sandeep MN, Taylor A, Kinra S, Sullivan R, Bowen L, Timpson N, Smith GD, Dudbridge F, Prabhakaran D, Ben-Shlomo Y, Reddy KS, Ebrahim S, Chandak GR; Indian Migration Study Group. PLoS One. 2013;8(1):e53944. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0053944. Epub 2013 Jan 17.

Associations between active travel to work and overweight, hypertension, and diabetes in India: a cross-sectional study. Millett C, Agrawal S, Sullivan R, Vaz M, Kurpad A, Bharathi AV, Prabhakaran D, Reddy KS, Kinra S, Smith GD, Ebrahim S; Indian Migration Study group. PLoS Med. 2013;10(6):e1001459. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1001459. Epub 2013 Jun 11.

Differences in estimation of creatinine generation between renal function estimating equations in an Indian population: cross-sectional data from the Hyderabad arm of the Indian migration study. Bailey PK, Tomson CR, Kinra S, Ebrahim S, Radhakrishna KV, Kuper H, Nitsch D, Ben-Shlomo Y. BMC Nephrol. 2013 Feb 4;14:30. doi: 10.1186/1471-2369-14-30.

Early and current socio-economic position and cardiometabolic risk factors in the Indian Migration Study. Sovio U, Giambartolomei C, Kinra S, Bowen L, Dudbridge F, Nitsch D, Smith GD, Ebrahim S, Ben-Shlomo Y. Eur J Prev Cardiol. 2013 Oct;20(5):844-53. doi: 10.1177/2047487312446136. Epub 2012 Apr 18.

The effect of rural-to-urban migration on renal function in an Indian population: cross-sectional data from the Hyderabad arm of the Indian Migration Study. Bailey PK, Tomson CR, Kinra S, Ebrahim S, Radhakrishna KV, Kuper H, Nitsch D, Ben-Shlomo Y. BMC Nephrol. 2013 Oct 31;14:240. doi: 10.1186/1471-2369-14-240.

The association between a vegetarian diet and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in India: the Indian Migration Study. Shridhar K, Dhillon PK, Bowen L, Kinra S, Bharathi AV, Prabhakaran D, Reddy KS, Ebrahim S; Indian Migration Study Group. PLoS One. 2014 Oct 24;9(10):e110586. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0110586. eCollection 2014.

Nutritional profile of Indian vegetarian diets–the Indian Migration Study (IMS). Shridhar K, Dhillon PK, Bowen L, Kinra S, Bharathi AV, Prabhakaran D, Reddy KS, Ebrahim S. Nutr J. 2014 Jun 4;13:55. doi: 10.1186/1475-2891-13-55.

Urban-Rural Differences in Bone Mineral Density: A Cross Sectional Analysis Based on the Hyderabad Indian Migration Study. Viljakainen HT, Ben-Shlomo Y, Kinra S, Ebrahim S, Kuper H, Radhakrishna KV, Kulkarni B, Tobias JH. PLoS One. 2015 Oct 20;10(10):e0140787. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0140787. eCollection 2015.

Evaluation of the Indian Migration Study Physical Activity Questionnaire (IMS-PAQ): a cross-sectional study. Sullivan R, Kinra S, Ekelund U, Bharathi AV, Vaz M, Kurpad A, Collier T, Reddy KS, Prabhakaran D, Ebrahim S, Kuper H. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2012 Feb 9;9:13. doi: 10.1186/1479-5868-9-13.

Association analysis of 31 common polymorphisms with type 2 diabetes and its related traits in Indian sib pairs. Gupta V, Vinay DG, Rafiq S, Kranthikumar MV, Janipalli CS, Giambartolomei C, Evans DM, Mani KR, Sandeep MN, Taylor AE, Kinra S, Sullivan RM, Bowen L, Timpson NJ, Smith GD, Dudbridge F, Prabhakaran D, Ben-Shlomo Y, Reddy KS, Ebrahim S, Chandak GR; Indian Migration Study Group. Diabetologia. 2012 Feb;55(2):349-57. doi: 10.1007/s00125-011-2355-6. Epub 2011 Nov 4.

Socio-demographic patterning of physical activity across migrant groups in India: results from the Indian Migration Study. Sullivan R, Kinra S, Ekelund U, Bharathi AV, Vaz M, Kurpad A, Collier T, Reddy KS, Prabhakaran D, Ben-Shlomo Y, Davey Smith G, Ebrahim S, Kuper H. PLoS One. 2011;6(10):e24898. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0024898. Epub 2011 Oct 14.

Effects of migration on food consumption patterns in a sample of Indian factory workers and their families. Bansal D, Satija A, Khandpur N, Bowen L, Kinra S, Prabhakaran D, Reddy KS, Ebrahim S. Public Health Nutr. 2010 Dec;13(12):1982-9. doi: 10.1017/S1368980010001254. Epub 2010 May 27.

Assessment of physical activity using accelerometry, an activity diary, the heart rate method and the Indian migration study questionnaire in south Indian adults. Bharathi AV, Kuriyan R, Kurpad AV, Thomas T, Ebrahim S, Kinra S, Lyngdoh T, Reddy SK, Dorairaj P, Vaz M; Indian Migrants Study Group. Public Health Nutr. 2010 Jan;13(1):47-53. doi: 10.1017/S1368980009005850. Epub 2009 Aug 5.

Estimation of additive genetic and environmental sources of quantitative trait variation using data on married couples and their siblings. Kulathinal S, Gasbarra D, Kinra S, Ebrahim S, Sillanpää MJ; Indian Migration Study Group. Genet Res (Camb). 2008 Jun;90(3):269-79. doi: 10.1017/S0016672308009348.

Associations of FTO and MC4R Variants with Obesity Traits in Indians and the Role of Rural/Urban Environment as a Possible Effect Modifier. Taylor AE, Sandeep MN, Janipalli CS, Giambartolomei C, Evans DM, Kranthi Kumar MV, Vinay DG, Smitha P, Gupta V, Aruna M, Kinra S, Sullivan RM, Bowen L, Timpson NJ, Davey Smith G, Dudbridge F, Prabhakaran D, Ben-Shlomo Y, Reddy KS, Ebrahim S, Chandak GR. J Obes. 2011;2011:307542. doi: 10.1155/2011/307542. Epub 2011 May 17.

Differences in consumption of food items between obese and normal-weight people in India. Satija A, Taylor FC, Khurana S, Tripathy V, Khandpur N, Bowen L, Prabhakaran D, Kinra S, Reddy KS, Ebrahim S. Natl Med J India. 2012 Jan-Feb;25(1):10-3.

Development and evaluation of a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire for use in urban and rural India. Bowen L, Bharathi AV, Kinra S, Destavola B, Ness A, Ebrahim S. Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2012;21(3):355-60.

Association between milk and milk product consumption and anthropometric measures in adult men and women in India: a cross-sectional study. Satija A, Agrawal S, Bowen L, Khandpur N, Kinra S, Prabhakaran D, Reddy KS, Smith GD, Ebrahim S. PLoS One. 2013 Apr 8;8(4):e60739. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0060739. Print 2013.

Dietary patterns in India and their association with obesity and central obesity. Satija A, Hu FB, Bowen L, Bharathi AV, Vaz M, Prabhakaran D, Reddy KS, Ben-Shlomo Y, Davey Smith G, Kinra S, Ebrahim S. Public Health Nutr. 2015 Nov;18(16):3031-41. doi: 10.1017/S1368980015000312. Epub 2015 Feb 20.

Association of common genetic variants with lipid traits in the Indian population. Walia GK, Gupta V, Aggarwal A, Asghar M, Dudbridge F, Timpson N, Singh NS, Kumar MR, Kinra S, Prabhakaran D, Reddy KS, Chandak GR, Smith GD, Ebrahim S. PLoS One. 2014 Jul 3;9(7):e101688. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0101688. eCollection 2014.