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MyoVasc

An epidemiologic, prospective cohort study to examine heart failure and its interaction with vascular diseases

  • Principal Investigators:

    • Univ.-Prof. Dr. med. Philipp Wild, M.Sc. (Coordination)
    • Univ.-Prof. Dr. med. Thomas Münzel

Subject

Heart failure; cardiovascular diseases

Study design

Epidemiologic prospective cohort study

Study participants

A total of 3,289 individuals aged 35 to 84 years with or without documented heart failure (via echocardiography). The study population is divided into three cohorts:

  • Patients with symptomatic heart failure
  • Patients with asymptomatic heart failure
  • Patients without heart failure

Status

3,289 study participants (follow-up, evaluation)

Objectives

Primary results:

  • Identification of determinants (risk factors and comorbidities) of the transition from asymptomatic heart failure to symptomatic heart failure
  • Investigation of hospitalization due to heart failure as well as mortality (due to cardiac death) in patients with (symptomatic) heart failure

Secondary results:

  • Establishment of a comprehensive biobank of various biomaterials, including serum/plasma, DNA, RNA and cells for systems biology analysis;
  • Analysis of proteins relevant to the development of asymptomatic heart failure and symptomatic heart failure;
  • Evaluation of the impact of socioeconomic, environmental and lifestyle factors on the development/progression of a subtype of a heart disease;
  • Estimates of mortality rates from any cause for patients with asymptomatic/symptomatic heart failure;
  • Identification of other risk factors associated with the development/progression of heart failure;
  • Study of the effects of heart failure on the psychological constitution of affected individuals;
  • Identification of comorbidities that are strongly associated with all types of cardiac diseases
  • Determination of the prevalence of atrial fibrillation in patients with heart failure
  • Determination of the prevalence of pulmonary embolism and other thromboembolic events (stroke, deep vein thrombosis and myocardial infarction) in the study population

Study procedure

For each study participant, follow-up examinations will be performed at the MyoVasc study center two, four and six years after the baseline examination. One, three, and five years after the baseline examination, endpoints will be assessed via a computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI).

  • Study duration for each patient: ten years
  • Duration of the study: sixteen years (until 08/2028)
  • Summary

    To this day, heart failure remains a life-threatening disease. Previously published epidemiologic studies have reported that mortality is higher in patients with heart failure than in patients with cancer. As a result of frequent hospitalizations of these patients, heart failure is also a massive economic burden on the healthcare system. Therefore, this study is an approach to increase our knowledge of this disease and to further evaluate biomarkers that may help to identify patients with early-stage heart failure. This could lead to earlier initiation of adequate therapy and thus improve the prognosis.

    Reference

    Publication on rationale and study design as well as baseline characteristics of the MyoVasc study: „Rationale, design and baseline characteristics of the MyoVasc study: A prospective cohort study investigating development and progression of heart failure” (Göbel S*, Prochaska JH*, …, Wild PS, Eur J Prev Cardiol 2020)(*geteilte Erstautorenschaft)

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