Cohort profile: ‘Biomarkers of Personalised Medicine’ (BioPersMed): a single-centre prospective observational cohort study in Graz/Austria to evaluate novel biomarkers in cardiovascular and metabolic diseases

• Published in: BMJ open Vol. 12; no. 4; p. e058890
• Main Authors: Haudum, Christoph Walter, Kolesnik, Ewald, Colantonio, Caterina, Mursic, Ines, Url-Michitsch, Marion, Tomaschitz, Andreas, Glantschnig, Theresa, Hutz, Barbara, Lind, Alice, Schweighofer, Natascha, Reiter, Clemens, Ablasser, Klemens, Wallner, Markus, Tripolt, Norbert Joachim, Pieske-Kraigher, Elisabeth, Madl, Tobias, Springer, Alexander, Seidel, Gerald, Wedrich, Andreas, Zirlik, Andreas, Krahn, Thomas, Stauber, Rudolf, Pieske, Burkert, Pieber, Thomas R, Verheyen, Nicolas, Obermayer-Pietsch, Barbara, Schmidt, Albrecht
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England British Medical Journal Publishing Group 07-04-2022; BMJ Publishing Group LTD; BMJ Publishing Group
• Series: Cohort profile
• Subjects: Aged; Asymptomatic; Austria; Biobanks; Biological Specimen Banks; Biomarkers; Cardiac Epidemiology; Cardiovascular Diseases - diagnosis; Cardiovascular Diseases - epidemiology; Cardiovascular Medicine; Clinical outcomes; Cohort analysis; Cohort Studies; Diabetes; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - diagnosis; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - epidemiology; Disease prevention; Female; General diabetes; General endocrinology; Humans; Metabolic disorders; Middle Aged; Mortality; Normal distribution; Precision Medicine; Prospective Studies; Risk Factors; Austria; General diabetes; General endocrinology; Cardiac Epidemiology
• ISSN: 2044-6055; 2044-6055
• DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-058890

PurposeAccumulating evidence points towards a close relationship between cardiovascular, endocrine and metabolic diseases. The BioPersMed Study (Biomarkers of Personalised Medicine) is a single-centre prospective observational cohort study with repetitive examination of participants in 2-year intervals. The aim is to evaluate the predictive impact of various traditional and novel biomarkers of cardiovascular, endocrine and metabolic pathways in asymptomatic individuals at risk for cardiovascular and/or metabolic disease.ParticipantsBetween 2010 and 2016, we recruited 1022 regional individuals into the study. Subjects aged 45 years or older presenting with at least one traditional cardiovascular risk factor or manifest type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) were enrolled. The mean age of the participants was 57±8 years, 55% were female, 18% had T2DM, 33% suffered from arterial hypertension, 15% were smokers, 42% had hyperlipidaemia, and only 26% were at low cardiovascular risk according to the Framingham ‘Systematic COronary Risk Evaluation’.Findings to dateStudy procedures during screening and follow-up visits included a physical examination and comprehensive cardiovascular, endocrine, metabolic, ocular and laboratory workup with biobanking of blood and urine samples. The variety of assessed biomarkers allows a full phenotyping of individuals at cardiovascular and metabolic risk. Preliminary data from the cohort and relevant biomarker analyses were already used as control population for genomic studies in local and international research cooperation.Future plansParticipants will undergo comprehensive cardiovascular, endocrine and metabolic examinations for the next decades and clinical outcomes will be adjudicated prospectively.