HAPIEE
Study
Collaborating
centres
The
study is a collaborative effort between our group at UCL and
researchers in Krakow (Poland), Prague (Czech Republic), Kaunas
(Lithuania) and Novosibirsk (Russia).
Institute
of Internal Medicine, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Novosibirsk,
Russia,
has participated in the WHO MONICA Project and post-MONICA activities;
EuroStroke-project; an international collaborative studies on
cardiovascular disease in North natives. The group converted
the cross-sectional surveys (required by the MONICA protocol)
into a prospective follow up study, and they have maintained
a "hot pursuit" register of myocardial infarction and stroke
since the formal termination of the MONICA project. The Novosibirsk
study is currently the most reliable source of information on
levels of and trends in cardiovascular risk factors, and maintains
one of the few, and probably the most reliable, longitudinal
study in Russia. Prof. Yuri Nikitin, the PI for the Novosibirsk
MONICA centre, has extensive expertise in research of atherosclerosis
and population studies. Dr Malyutina, the head of Survey Centre,
a cardiologist and epidemiologist, has expertise in population
prospective studies, co-ordinated local MONICA activities and
the Russian part of the pilot study, and is currently in charge
of the Russian part of the cohort study.
Centre
for Environmental Health, National Institute of Public Health
in Prague, Czech Republic
is the main centre of expertise on research and policy related
to environmental exposures. The centre has been involved in
a number of other epidemiological studies, mainly examining
environmental exposures and their effects on human health. Dr
Ruzena Kubinova, a public health physician and the Director
of the centre, is also director of the National Programme of
Monitoring of Environment and Health, funded by the Czech government.
A few years ago, the programme has acknowledged the importance
of socio-economic determinants of health, and this became a
major focus of the programme. Part of the programme is an ongoing
series of population surveys rotating between 32 cities that
cover all of the Czech Republic. At present, Dr Kubinova is
chairing a committee that examines the evidence on potential
impact of nuclear power stations on health. Dr Kubinova has
been responsible for the Czech part of the pilot study, and
she is in charge of the Czech part of the present cohort study.
Department
of Epidemiology and Population Studies, Jagiellonian University
in Krakow, Poland participated
in a number of international studies mainly in a field of cardiovascular
epidemiology. The largest study was The WHO MONICA Project.
Dr Pajak, medical epidemiologist and Head of the Department,
has been the principal investigator of the Tarnobrzeg part of
project and elected member of the international MONICA Steering
Committee for the years 2000-2002. He also was a co-ordinator
of US and Poland Collaborative Study carried out from 1980-2000,
which focus on scientific exchange and collaboration in the
field of cardiovascular disease epidemiology. Later the team
participated in the international CASCADE Project which investigated
the relation between the exposure to CVD risk factors at middle
age with cognitive function in old age. The Department has had
a close link with the UCL group for more than a decade, first
within the framework of the EU funded CHEWE network (see above),
and later through the Wellcome Trust funded pilot study that
lead to the current cohort study.
Department
of Population Studies, Institute of Cardiology of Kaunas University
of Medicine, Kaunas, Lithuania,
has been involved in a number of population
based epidemiological studies and prevention programs related
to cardiovascular and other non-communicable diseases. The
department
participated in international projects, such as the Kaunas
Rotterdam Intervention Study (KRIS), the WHO MONICA Project,
CINDI, and
MORGAM. The Kaunas center currently has the most reliable source
of data on levels and trends in cardiovascular risk factors
in the urban population and the most reliable data from the
longitudinal prospective studies on the prognostic value of
these risk factors to the cardiovascular mortality and morbidity
in Lithuania. From 1971 to present, the Department of Population
Studies has been responsible for a population based register
of acute myocardial infarction in Kaunas. At present time,
the
center is involved in an EU project "The use of stroke registers
to assess the quality of stroke management across Europe" (EROS).
Prof. Domarkiene is head and Dr Tamosiunas senior researcher
in the Department of Population Studies. Both are trained cardiologists
and epidemiologists. Dr Domarkiene has been the supervisor
of
the Kaunas-MONICA project, and she is currently the PI in the
Lithuanian MORGAM project. Dr Tamosiunas has been involved
in
all above projects above as co-investigator.