European Heart Journal Advance Access originally published online on October 16, 2007
European Heart Journal 2007 28(21):2678-2684; doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehm411
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Cardiovascular disease on a global scale: defining the path forward for research and practice
1 Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Duke Clinical Research Institute, Duke University Medical Center, PO Box 17969, Durham, NC 27715, USA
2 Department of Cardiology, University Hospital Gathuisberg, Leuven, Belgium
3 National Health & Medical Research Council, Clinical Trials Centre, Camperdown, Australia
4 Green Lane Cardiovascular Service, Auckland City Hospital, Auckland, New Zealand
5 Uppsala Clinical Research Center, University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden
6 Department of Medicine, University of Alberta, , Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Received 15 August 2007; accepted 23 August 2007; online publish-ahead-of-print 16 October 2007.
* Corresponding author. Tel: +1 919 668 8775; fax: +1 919 668 7060. E-mail address: daniel.mark{at}duke.edu
During the 2006 World Congress of Cardiology meeting in Barcelona, the Virtual Coordinating Centre for Global Collaborative Cardiovascular Research (VIGOUR) group held a symposium examining potential approaches to understanding and controlling the explosive worldwide growth of cardiovascular disease and its attendant morbidity and mortality. Over the last 20 years, the global nature of many problems in health care has become much more evident. In the realm of health, this has meant that countries across the globe have started to experience the same kinds of behavioural shifts (overeating, reduced physical activity and smoking), and with them massive increases in cardiovascular risk factors, observed over the last century particularly in North America and Western Europe. This VIGOUR symposium focused on what actions can be taken now to prepare for this future in which prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease will be a major public health issue in a much larger proportion of the world's countries. The participants focused on four major areas where they saw important opportunities: (i) the development of high quality, contemporaneous data sources that can be used to study and improve the processes, treatments and outcomes of cardiovascular diseases globally; (ii) the feasibility and resource/health economic implications of any proposed potential solutions need to be carefully defined; (iii) models/systems must be identified that can be used to guide effective interventions targeting health problems of large populations at an affordable price; (iv) academic research organizations need to assume a more active role in the health-care system both through their traditional activities in discovery research and developing evidence-based medicine along with translation of research findings into effective interventions that improve the public health.
Key Words: Cardiovascular diseases • Epidemiology