Kardiovize Brno 2030, a prospective cardiovascular health study in Central Europe: Methods, baseline findings and future directions

Abstract

Background Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease is highly prevalent in Eastern and Central Europe, where the incidence is the highest in the world. The Kardiovize Brno 2030 study was designed as a prospective cohort study to investigate the complex relationships of cardiovascular disease and outcomes with a range of biological, psychosocial, environmental, behavioral, and economic factors in an urban population of the Czech Republic. Methods We randomly selected a 1% sample of the city of Brno residents aged 25-64 years stratified by sex and age. The study assessed traditional and novel cardiovascular disease risk factors, including sociodemographic and smoking status, physical activity, diet, depression, stress, body fat, cardio-ankle vascular index, and intima media thickness, complemented by blood tests; biological samples were stored for future analyses. Results The study enrolled 2160 participants (54.8% women), with a mean age of 47 ± 11.3 years. They were mostly full-time employed (75.6%) and married (62.1%). Hyperlipidemia was highly prevalent (70.7% in men, and 67.1% in women, NS). Hypertension and diabetes mellitus were more prevalent in men than in women (54.3% vs. 38.7% and 7.1% vs. 3.5%, respectively, P < 0.001 for both). A total of 25.3% of men and 21.9% of women smoked, whereas 20.0% and 43.0% of men and 18.1% and 26.6% of women were obese and overweight, respectively. Conclusions Cardiovascular risk factors are highly prevalent in the city of Brno, an urban population from Central Europe. The Kardiovize Brno 2030 study will provide unique multidimensional and longitudinal cardiovascular health data from a region where epidemiological studies are scarce.

Determinants of Metabolic Health Across Body Mass Index Categories in Central Europe: A Comparison Between Swiss and Czech Populations

“…The Kardiovize Brno 2030 study is a population-based prospective cohort study assessing the complex relationships of biological, psychosocial, environmental, and behavioral risk factors with cardiovascular diseases (CVD) outcomes, in a randomly selected ∼1% of the urban population of Brno, Czech Republic (7,(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14). The initial recruitment was completed in 2014, and enrolled 2,160 participants (54.8% women) aged 25-64 years.…”

“…Study protocols and baseline examinations were fully described elsewhere (6,7). Participation rates were 34% in the Kardiovize cohort and 41% in the Colaus cohort, respectively.…”

“…To answer these requests, we compared two wellestablished population-based studies designed to investigate the epidemiology and genetic determinants of cardiovascular and metabolic risk factors: the CoLaus (∼6,000 participants; Lausanne, Switzerland) (6) and the Kardiovize Brno 2030 (∼2,000 participants; Brno, Czech Republic) (7). Here, our objectives were: (1) to address to what extent obesity traits-especially BMI, waist circumference and body fat mass-determine metabolic health, and (2) to identify the socioeconomic and behavioral determinants associated with unhealthy metabolic profile in the overall population and stratified by BMI categories.…”

Associations between high triglycerides and arterial stiffness in a population-based sample: Results from the Kardiovize 2030 study

“…Smokers were defined as those smoking either daily or less than daily in the past year, or those whose Smokelyzer values were ≥ 10 [26].…”

“…The Kardiovize Brno 2030 study was approved by the ethics committee of St Anne's University Hospital, Brno, Czech Republic (reference number 2 G/2012) [26].…”