Laboratory of Preventive Cardiology

The Laboratory of Preventive Cardiology is the youngest scientific unit of the National Medical Research Center of Cardiology. The laboratory was organized in November 2018.

Major directions of scientific research

• Research into the effectiveness of secondary prevention in patients with various cardiovascular diseases in the framework of clinical and epidemiological studies, including long-term prospective studies.
• Development and assessment of efficacy of cardiac rehabilitation and secondary prevention programs for various cardiovascular diseases and comorbid conditions.
• Research into predictors of cardiac rehabilitation programs effectiveness in patients with various cardiovascular diseases.
• Research into the psychosocial aspects of cardiovascular disease.
• Studies of adherence to therapeutic measures and lifestyle correction in patients with cardiovascular diseases.
• Promoting the effectiveness of secondary prevention of cardiovascular diseases through the use of remote and telemedicine technologies.

The most significant accomplishments in recent years

Development of the methodological framework for the cardiac rehabilitation unit functioning.

Development of a large number of educational materials for patients with cardiovascular diseases encompassing the most relevant aspects of their diseases, including diagnostic methods, lifestyle features that affect cardiovascular outcomes, basic principles of non-pharmacological and drug therapies.

For the needs of educational programs targeting patients with cardiovascular diseases, a comprehensive set of materials has been developed, including materials for the Patient’s Schools on arterial hypertension, on heart rhythm disorders, on coronary heart disease, on healthy eating, on smoking cessation, as well as on stress management, for the School for heart failure patients, etc. There Schools are intended for carrying out in a group format, which can be supplemented, if necessary, by individual counseling from specialists, including, for example, nutritionists, psychologists, etc.

It has been shown that remote patient support through telephone counseling and mobile technologies is highly effective with respect to long-term strategies to reduce the risk of cardiovascular complications and to achieve secondary prevention targets in patients with coronary artery disease at the post-hospital follow-up stage and in patients with high and very high cardiovascular risk. Recent evidence is also supporting efficacy of similar structured, comprehensive cardiac rehabilitation programs for patients with atrial fibrillation. The obtained results have a significant practical value, taking into account the specific logistic difficulties that many patients needing cardiac rehabilitation are facing, in particular, time or transportation issues.

An important focus of the laboratory's work is the research into psychosocial aspects of cardiovascular diseases. The laboratory continues to work on the large prospective multicenter Russian clinical and epidemiological COMETA study to assess the prevalence of psychosocial factors among patients with arterial hypertension and coronary artery disease, to evaluate their relationships with traditional risk factors and their effects on adherence to non-pharmacological and drug treatments, as well as their impact on cardiovascular outcomes and on disease-specific and all-cause mortality.

The laboratory is conducting a long-term prospective study to assess the main risk factors, structural and functional changes of the myocardium, genetic, biochemical and hormonal markers of the severity of chronic heart failure in patients from different regions of Russia.

Currently, we are working on the analysis of the results of a Russian part of an international multicenter study to assess the effectiveness of secondary prevention in patients with coronary artery disease who have had prior myocardial infarctions or other acute coronary syndromes, as well as myocardial revascularization procedures. The prospective observation phase of this study continues as well.

Laboratory staff are involved in the implementation of large-scale international (European and transnational) projects in Russia for the treatment and secondary prevention of cardiovascular diseases.

In recent years, one of the areas the laboratory’s work was to study barriers for compliance with current guidelines on cardiovascular prevention - both from the physician’s side (and their clinical decision-making) and from the side of the patients.

In 2018-2019, laboratory staff members were authoring or co-authoring a total of 60 scientific publications, including 12 articles in leading Russian journals and 17 articles in reputable international journals with impact factors from 3 to 44, such as Lancet, European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, European Journal of Epidemiology, International Journal of Stroke, Journal of Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism, Atherosclerosis, Heart, etc.