Clinical Research Directory

Cardiometabolic Risk in Pregnancy and Postpartum

The goal of this study is to evaluate changes in blood pressure and early cardiovascular risk markers and to determine whether a postpartum education intervention can improve cardiovascular risk monitoring among pregnant women in their third trimester through six months postpartum in Accra, Ghana. The study includes women aged 18 years and older with and without pregnancy-related cardiometabolic complications. Findings from this study will inform the development of scalable postpartum screening and intervention strategies to reduce long-term cardiovascular disease risk among women.

Non-invasive Imaging for In-vivo Quantification of Skin Composition and Structure

The goal of this clinical investigation is to explore a non-invasive technology for measuring the microcirculatory structure, composition and function in patients from a primary care population. The main aims are: 1. To evaluate the robustness of the technology for assessment of the molecular composition and structure of the skin tissue and microcirculatory function, on a prospective primary care population. 2. To evaluate the device and method on its capability to detect deficiencies in circulation, compared with existing reference systems with similar characteristics for patients with known cardiovascular disease risk and/or diabetes.

The RISC Registry--Risk Informed Screening Registry

Chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes are the leading causes of death and disability in the United States. Six in ten adults have one chronic disease; 4 in 10 have two or more. These are also leading drivers of the nation's $4.1 trillion in annual health care costs. Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death for men and women, cancer is the second largest, with breast cancer being the second largest cause of death in women. Diabetes is the 8th highest cause of death for both men and women. Routine screening, a focus on prevention, early detection, and patient engagement with proposed care plans, effective surveillance and follow up are some of the most effective ways to reduce the burden of chronic diseases across an individual's lifetime and at the population level. Estimating dollar costs associated with non-compliance with screening and health management recommendations is complex and variable depending on the specific context, disease, and condition. But there is much evidence to indicate that a significant amount of these annual costs can be mitigated if compliance with health management recommendations increases, and health problems are prevented or detected early. Access to screening and noncompliance with health management recommendations impact the entire population, but more disparities exist in racial and ethnic minorities and in the historically underserved for cancer, obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The overall cost of these disparities in the U.S. has been estimated at around 1.24 trillion U.S. Dollars. The RISC Registry seeks to pursue the intersection of breast cancer, metabolic, and cardiovascular risk in women and study the application of individualized multi-condition risk assessments, risk-informed or personalized screening, prevention and follow up care approaches in a broad cross section of patients. It pursues the hypothesis that these approaches accompanied by population appropriate methods of clinician and patient engagement may increase understanding and compliance with breast cancer, obesity, and metabolic/cardiovascular/cardiometabolic risk screening, surveillance and follow up recommendations by empowering women to make healthier choices. In doing so, these methods may identify ways to address disparities in screening and patient care and ultimately promote early detection or even reversal of adverse health conditions, improve overall personal health, and reduce overall health care costs. The primary focus is cancer, cardiovascular and metabolic health screening with a focus on utilization of Precision Screening. (Precision Screening attempts to separate those who will benefit from screening from those that may not, through use of information on disease risk.) The study will start by focusing on women and risk for these diseases and health conditions.