SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 11th Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Health Department of the Canary Islands Government, via the Canary Islands Health Service and the Canary Islands Health Research Institute Foundation (FIISC), has initiated outreach and information gathering from the initial participants of the IMPaCT Cohort project in the La Palma node, situated in the Specialized Care Centre (CAE) of Los Llanos de Aridane.
There are three nodes in the Canary Islands, found in Tenerife, Gran Canaria, and La Palma, participating in this national epidemiological study aimed at investigating the psychological, social, environmental, and biological factors impacting the health conditions and diseases of significant concern in Spain.
This research is backed by the Precision Medicine Infrastructure associated with Science and Technology (IMPaCT), established by the Carlos III Health Institute to facilitate the integration of precision medicine within the National Health System.
Coordinated by the Networked Biomedical Research Centre (CIBER), the study involves all autonomous communities, the National Institute of Statistics (INE), alongside 59 research groups and 24 associated entities.
In the Canary Islands, 12,000 individuals aged 16 to 79 will take part, with their health monitored over a span of twenty years. Nationwide, a total of 200,000 individuals within this age bracket will be included in the initiative.
For the Canary Islands, each of the three nodes will randomly select 4,000 individuals aged 16 to 79. The first two are positioned at the La Laguna-Universidad Health Centre in La Laguna, and the San Juan Health Centre in Telde, respectively. Progress is already being made in these nodes with more than 160 individuals in Tenerife and over eighty in Gran Canaria having undergone sampling, with biological samples sent to the national biobank.
Now, activities launch in the third node, located in the CAE of Los Llanos de Aridane, although selections will also be made from the basic health areas of El Paso, Las Breñas, Santa Cruz de La Palma, Tazacorte, and Tijarafe.
Under the slogan ‘If they call you, come!’, the outreach phase commences with those selected, inviting them to engage in the study.
FOLLOW-UP FOR TWENTY YEARS
The IMPaCT Cohort will monitor each participant over a period of twenty years, and nearly seventy researchers specialising in various fields have contributed to establishing the study variables.
The research will be performed across fifty primary care health centres (IMPaCT centres) under the health services of the seventeen autonomous communities and Ceuta and Melilla, which will handle recruitment, data collection, and regular communication with participants.
The design of the study aims to ensure that its 200,000 participants represent a cross-section of the Spanish populace. Selection involves a random sampling of individuals aged 16 to 79 who live in Spain, have public health insurance, and receive care through public health service centres.
At the start of their involvement and every five years thereafter, participants will undergo comprehensive physical examinations, complete a detailed health questionnaire, and have biological samples taken. Moreover, there will be more frequent follow-up communication conducted via telephone or digital applications. This information will be supplemented with data available from clinical databases.
The IMPaCT Cohort aims to elucidate the influence of social, environmental, and biological factors on the onset of primary diseases and health issues in Spain. The data gathered will be accessible to the scientific community for developing research projects beneficial to society.
A working group composed of professionals and researchers has been formed in the Canary Islands, establishing an Autonomous Committee for the IMPaCT Cohort project. This committee, supported by Primary Care Management, hospital laboratories, Research Units, and FIISC, will oversee the implementation of this project across the archipelago.
RESEARCH OBJECTIVE
The main aims of this investigation are to enhance understanding of the causes of diseases and health conditions that are key public health priorities, including age-related functional decline, injury, and disability; monitor the overall health status of residents in Spain, paying particular attention to health inequalities; predict disease risks and other health issues, including age-related functional decline, injury, and disability; and identify biomarkers of subclinical or early-stage disease along with biomarkers of specific phenotypes that may be useful in clinical practice (precision clinical medicine).
In Spain, previous cohort studies have been conducted, the results of which are informing public health and disease prevention policies. However, this marks the first instance of a study involving all autonomous communities and cities, operating under a unified protocol for sample collection, questionnaires, and physical examinations, all aimed at establishing a research infrastructure for the national scientific community.
