Through the CIBER, the ISCIII promotes a cohort of 200000 people to study and improve the health of the Spanish population
Researchers and representatives of the Regional Health Services from all over Spain have gathered in Alcalá de Henares to face the next phases of the IMPaCT Cohort project, in which 21 institutions are working, including the INE and the Regional Health Services
Dr. María José Sánchez scientific director of ibs.GRANADA at the meeting of the project, which is a basis for implementing, developing and consolidating precision medicine in Spain
A large team of researchers and representatives of the health services of all the autonomous communities have met this week in Alcalá de Henares to share the progress of the IMPaCT Cohort project, one of the three Precision Medicine Infrastructure programs associated with Science and Technology (IMPaCT).
The IMPaCT infrastructure, promoted and financed by the Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII), is a basis for the implementation of Precision Medicine in the National Health System through a strategy based on science and innovation, and consists of of three programs: Predictive Medicine, Genomic Medicine and Data Science. The IMPaCT Cohort project is coordinated from the Epidemiology and Public Health area (CIBERESP) of the Network Biomedical Research Center Consortium (CIBER), dependent on the ISCIII.
The meeting was chaired by the mayor of Alcalá de Henares, Javier Rodríguez Palacios, who opened the day together with Cristóbal Belda, director of the ISCIII; Pilar Gayoso, deputy general director of Cellular Therapy and Regenerative Medicine of the ISCIII; Marina Pollán, Coordinator of the IMPaCT Cohort and director of the National Epidemiology Center of the ISCIII and CIBERESP, and Margarita Blázquez, manager of the CIBER.
IMPaCT's Predictive Medicine program aims to create a large population cohort of 200.000 people. “We want to know the role of habits, genetic susceptibility and the specific characteristics of the Spanish population and our environment in the origin of the main diseases and health problems”, indicates Dr. Maria José Sánchez who has represented ibs .GRANADA at the meeting.
After the first year of the project, in the conference in Alcalá the progress of each of the working groups has been shared. Among other topics, the technical aspects of the project related to the design, the dimensions of the basal exploration, the data management model, the collection of samples, the identification of the IMPaCT centers throughout the territory and the start-up of progress of the pilot study of the project, which will be carried out in three of the IMPaCT centres, in Palma de Mallorca, Madrid and Monzón (Huesca).
A project of all and for all
To prevent the appearance of a disease, it is necessary to know well what causes that disease. Thus, having information on a large number of people and following them over time will make it possible to predict the risks of becoming ill at an individual level in the future, also thanks to advances in genomics, the digital world and ICTs, which facilitate this personalized approach .
21 Spanish institutions collaborate in IMPaCT Cohort, including primary care centers, hospitals and research centers, and the National Institute of Statistics (INE). The study plans to have 50 health centers (IMPaCT centers) distributed throughout Spain, from which the participants, between 16 and 79 years old, randomly selected, will be contacted and monitored. “The collaboration of citizens is essential and we trust that the Spanish population understands the relevance of the project and participates if they are called by their health center”, point out the project coordinators.
Central role of Regional Health Services
There are successful examples in other countries such as the United Kingdom, France, Germany or the United States. These cohorts have biological samples, with very broad epidemiological information -including social and economic factors- and constitute the basic tool for progress in personalized prevention. Thus, IMPaCT Cohort will make it possible to make a qualitative leap in research on preventive precision medicine in Spain, placing our country at the same level.
The creation of this cohort is a shared effort with all the Regional Health Services of the Autonomous Communities and INGESA (the two autonomous cities), together with the INE. In addition to the coordinating team, representatives of the project nodes from Cantabria, Euskadi, Galicia, Murcia, Extremadura, the Canary Islands, Navarra, the Balearic Islands, Castile-La Mancha, the Valencian Community, Catalonia, Andalusia, La Rioja, Castile and León, Asturias, Ceuta, Melilla and Madrid.
Data of great value for the scientific community
The project will collect information from the participants through questionnaires, physical examinations, physiological tests and biomarker analysis in biological samples, which will be carried out in each health center. The data will be available for the development of other scientific projects of interest to society. “IMPaCT Cohort will allow the scientific community to better understand how to prevent the main diseases and deterioration associated with age, injuries and disability”, explains Fernando Rodríguez Artalejo, CIBERESP researcher and Professor of Preventive Medicine and Public Health at the Autonomous University Madrid, who also belongs to the project coordination team.
The possibility of having a dynamic registry of individual and population, clinical, genetic, epidemiological and lifestyle data will allow the construction of predictive disease models, the identification of health inequalities, the monitoring of key indicators and the evaluation of the impact of health policies.
The CIBER Consortium
The CIBER Consortium (Biomedical Research Network Center) depends on the Carlos III Health Institute – Ministry of Science and Innovation and aims to promote research of excellence in biomedicine and health sciences that is carried out in the National Health System and in the Science and Technology System. Currently, it has more than 500 research groups in more than 100 consortium institutions in Spain.
The CIBER scientific program is organized around 13 thematic research areas: Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine (CIBERBBN); Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases (CIBERDEM); Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition (CIBEROBN); Liver and Digestive Diseases (CIBEREHD); Rare Diseases (CIBERER); Respiratory Diseases (CIBERES); Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP); Mental Health (CIBERSAM); Frailty and Healthy Aging (CIBERFES); Cardiovascular Diseases (CIBERCV); Cancer (CIBERONC); Neurodegenerative Diseases (CIBERNED); and Infectious Diseases (CIBERINFEC).