Acute Cardiovascular Disease

Very old patients are a rapidly growing and vulnerable population in acute cardiovascular care but remain underrepresented in clinical trials. Clinical outcomes in older intensive care unit (ICU) patients are determined less by chronological age than by their clinical phenotype, including cardiovascular comorbidities, frailty, polypharmacy, and functional and cognitive impairment. This prospective multicenter observational study aims to assess the impact of chronic and acute cardiovascular diseases on long-term outcomes and functional trajectories in older ICU patients. Using the international VIP research network, approximately 4,000 patients will be enrolled across different ICU specialties and healthcare systems and assessed multidimensionally using validated clinical scores. The study seeks to improve risk stratification and outcome prediction in older critically ill patients with cardiovascular disease and to address existing evidence gaps in acute cardiovascular and intensive care medicine.

The research project aims to develop clinical decision support tools integrating established diagnostic variables and machine learning (ML) models for rapid diagnosis of acute life-threatening cardiovascular conditions in emergency department (ED) patients with chest pain or dyspnea with the ultimate goal of Improved diagnostic accuracy, faster patient management, and reduced medical errors.

This protocol proposes to prospectively evaluate current epidemiology, pharmacologic and invasive management and clinical outcomes of patients with acute cardiovascular diseases admitted at our ICCU.

The study is aimed at patients who suffer from severe obesity and receive a computerised tomography (CT) scan of the heart. A total of 1200 patients across Europe are to take part in the study. It is a multi-centre, controlled, open, randomised study. As part of the study, a citizen app will be installed on a smartphone for randomly selected study participants. A fitness tracker will also be issued so that certain parameters, such as heart rate and daily number of steps, can be recorded.