CLEVELAND--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oxford University in conjunction with Life Line Screening, the nation’s leading community screening provider, today announced findings from a clinical research paper which show that chronic cardiovascular diseases occur approximately 10 years earlier in men than women. The findings will be presented by Oxford University at the Society for Vascular Medicine 2013 Annual Meeting and Scientific Sessions.
The paper is based on data drawn from over 290,000 vascular screens performed by Life Line Screening from 2008-2012 across the U.K and Ireland. Among the findings to be presented is evidence suggesting the rates of chronic cardiovascular conditions including abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA); narrowing of a main artery in the neck and an irregular heartbeat (both of which significantly increase the risk of stroke); and circulatory problems affecting the legs, all increase with age. In addition, women seem to develop them around 10 years later than men.
“We are pleased to be able to work with such a prestigious organization as University of Oxford in order to enhance the available database of research around preventable cardiovascular conditions – which represent one of the most significant and costly global health issues today,” said Dr. Andrew Manganaro, M.D, FACC, FACS, Chief Medical Officer, Life Line Screening. “At Life Line Screening, our mission is to help patients improve their health outcomes by providing the right screening, at the right time. Leveraging our screening data to further the research of leading institutions like Oxford is yet another way we can advance this goal and ultimately drive better population health.”
This presentation marks the first output of a broader collaboration between Life Line Screening and the Clinical Trial Service Unit and Epidemiological Studies Unit (CTSU), based at the University of Oxford. The two organizations are also working together on a large epidemiological study which investigates the rates of and risk factors for several potentially serious vascular conditions. The data informing this broader study, as well as the paper presented today, is drawn from Life Line Screening’s uniquely rich database of patient preventive screening results.
Work is ongoing on the study, and Life Line Screening and the CTSU hope to be able to determine the importance of smoking, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and obesity for these “silent” vascular conditions, thereby helping to prevent significant disease and premature death due to vascular disease.
“We are very excited about our collaboration with Life Line Screening,” said Mr. Richard Bulbulia, a consultant Vascular Surgeon from Oxford University who will present the paper. “We now have a unique opportunity to study the importance of modifiable risk factors, such as smoking, on conditions like abdominal aortic aneurysm and carotid disease. When these conditions are detected, they can be treated medically, surgically, or with a stent, and our work with Life Line Screening will also inform the design of widespread vascular risk reduction strategies to lower the overall burden of disease. This should enable further reductions in the risk of stroke and premature death from cardiovascular disease, which is responsible for around one-third of all deaths in the developed world.”
About Life Line Screening
Life Line Screening is a preventive health company and a leading provider of community-based screenings in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. Since inception in 1993, Life Line Screening has screened over 8 million people, and currently screens about 1 million people each year at more than 15,000 screening events. In addition, Life Line Screening maintains a large and growing list of hospital and health care system sponsors. Currently working with more than 160 hospitals in 48 states, Life Line Screening’s services include detection of heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, liver, and kidney conditions. The company website is located at www.lifelinescreening.com.
About CTSU
CTSU (Co-directors Professor Sir Rory Collins and Professor Sir Richard Peto) is based in The Richard Doll Building at the University of Oxford and it’s work chiefly involves studies of the causes and treatment of "chronic" diseases such as cancer, heart attack or stroke (which, collectively, account for most adult deaths worldwide), although it does also involve some studies of other major conditions in developed and developing countries.
Large-scale randomised and observational evidence is needed to investigate appropriately reliably the causes, prevention and treatment of premature death and disability in developed and developing countries. The CTSU experience shows that such studies can be practicable and relatively inexpensive if sufficient attention is paid to the details of study design.
Such large-scale research does require widespread collaboration, so although around 220 people currently work in the Richard Doll Building at Oxford (including those responsible for statistical and clinical direction, computing, laboratory work, and administrative support), hundreds of others work full- or part-time on CTSU studies outside Oxford. The unit receives core funding from the British Heart Foundation (BHF), Cancer Research UK (CR-UK) and the Medical Research Council (MRC).
