The Impact of ´Long Covid´ on Cardiovascular Disease – BigData@Heart
In case you missed it, the recording of “The Impact of ´Long Covid´ on Cardiovascular Disease – BigData@Heart” webinar is available here.
European Heart Network webinar on dynamic consent for data-intensive health research
On December 9th, 2020, the European Heart Network (EHN) brought together patients, patient organisations, and researchers from the Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, Medical Humanities Research, University Medical Center Utrecht, for an interactive exchange on dynamic interfacing for data-intensive health research.
Patients and citizens are increasingly asked to share personal health data for international scientific health research. The concept of dynamic interfacing, also referred to as dynamic consent, builds upon a patient-centred digital communication interface for providing information, obtaining consent, and facilitating involvement. Yet, while dynamic consent is increasingly put forward as a promising approach, the concept is fuzzy and entails many different elements at once. The BigData@Heart research seeks to provide greater insight into its practical applicability and implementation.
During the exchange, Dr Ghislaine van Thiel and PhD candidate Sam Muller gave an overview of their research and gathered patients’ and patient representatives’ insights on the concept, participation in governance, and communications. They reflected on hypothetical scenarios for practical implementation and shared points of interest that are important to patients and would be relevant for the research team to include in their research.
The input will feed into research led by the Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, which expects to publish the outcomes in summer 2021.
Big Data could potentially transform early detection of cardiovascular disease
After reviewing the latest evidence from scientific studies and high-quality, randomised controlled trials, the European Heart Network (EHN) published in January 2020 its revised paper on 'Early detection of cardiovascular disease.' The publication offers an overview of strategies to detect risk of cardiovascular disease and builds on evidence gathered by experts as part of the WHO Health Evidence Network (HEN) report.
Key messages include:
- There is potential value of case-finding within clinical practice, which involves assessing individuals that may be at risk of CVD when they use the healthcare system for other type of concerns or consultations.
- Evidence-based, targeted case-finding in selected settings and within specific population groups known to be at high risk are more likely to be effective for reducing CVD.
- Digital technologies and Big Data could potentially transform early detection, for example by stratifying the population into risk groups using data from electronic health records or by self-monitoring; however, further research and scientific validation of such technologies is needed.
Click here for more information and to download the report.