Cardiovascular Health
The UK has one of the highest rates of death from heart disease in the world - one adult dies from the disease every three minutes. We have made great advancements in cardiovascular research, focusing on the prevention, detection and treatment of cardiovascular disease and related conditions.
Our expertise
We look at hypertension and its complications, as well as the relationships between nutrition, metabolic abnormalities and cardiovascular risk, including risk assessment in ethnic minorities both in developed and developing countries. We play host to the European Society of Hypertension Centre of Excellence in Cardio-Metabolic Research and the World Health Organisation Collaboration Centre on Nutrition. We are also part of the European Salt Action Network, a consortium of several EU Member States committed to the implementation of a programme of population reduction in salt intake, this is a fine example of how our research findings are translated into implementation and policy action.
Professor Franco Cappuccio, head of our cardiovascular medicine team, holds the first endowed Chair at the University, which aims to establishing a national and international programme of research into sleep, health and society. The project focuses on the cardiovascular and metabolic effects of sleep deprivation and disruption, and has established significant collaborations nationally and worldwide. We have recently completed the first clinical trial in the UK, funded by the NHS Workforce Projects, on the effects on patients’ safety and junior doctors’ work-sleep patterns of implementing European-compliant rotas in the NHS.
Stroke is the second leading cause of death worldwide and our hypertension research looks at UK and global populations. Blood pressure has been found to be the most important modifiable risk factor leading to stroke. Our international cardiovascular health studies in West and South Africa have implicated high salt intake in raised blood pressure in rural and semi-urban communities. Intervention studies we have carried out in Ghana have shown that practical dietary approaches to moderate salt intake are effective in lowering blood pressure. Blood pressure is also the most important factor in stroke survivors in the Southern Africa Stroke Prevention Initiative, a joint project of the Universities of Warwick and the Witwatersrand. Further work will look into new strategies to improve cardiovascular prevention and care in Africa.
In the UK, we have carried out electronic health studies in over 300,000 patients in Coventry and Warwickshire. These have shown that many patients with stroke, heart disease or diabetes have blood pressure above conservative standards. We are continuing this project and currently monitor changes in blood pressure control in the community on a regular basis. We also have a particular interest in the increased risk of cardiovascular disease in patients with reduced kidney function. Further studies aimed at reducing cardiovascular risk seek to find out whether the use of electronic prompts within health records will help to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease in patients in primary care.
Prevention demands changes in behaviour. Two important issues are the physical activity that people undertake in their daily lives and what they eat. Our research focuses on practical implications with an emphasis on identifying what is likely to work, both in terms of how the environment affects behaviour and of providing support for lifestyle change. An example of this is an intervention programme we have developed called 'Families for Health'. This is an exercise-based programme for families with children who are overweight or obese.
Our primary research, in the UK, West and South Africa, aims to understand more about the influence of the environment, and more about how physical activity, physical fitness, body, and diet interact in increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease. Our secondary research aims to identify strategies that are effective in reducing high risk behaviours.
Current projects
West Midlands Local Stroke Research Network
This is funded by the Department of Health's UK Stroke Research Network. The objective is to facilitate local recruitment of stroke patients into clinical trials studying different new ways of preventing, managing and rehabilitating strokes. We host and coordinate the network in partnership with the University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire NHS Trust.
Hypergenes
This study, funded by the European Commission, involves developing a model to disentangle the genetic bases of essential hypertension. The project involves 20 European academic centres as well as industrial partners, including IBM. The study is expected to be completed in 2011.
Take a look at our Cardiovascular Medicine & Epidemiology (CVME) pages for more projects
Current Research
Completed Research
