An innovative project seeks to improve health from Aragon: "If they call you, come"

The IIS Aragón participates in the Impact Cohort project, which will follow 8.000 Aragonese (200.000 throughout Spain) for 20 years to prevent and treat diseases. The Monzón node has already attracted more than 300 participants

Aragón participates in the national primary care research project Cohorte Impact, which aims to improve the health of the Spanish population. To achieve this, the program seeks to monitor 200.000 representative people -8.000 of them from Aragon- over the next 20 years to better understand the origin of the main diseases and thus help prevent and treat them, promoting personalized and precision medicine.

The Impact Cohort project, promoted by the Carlos III Health Institute, seeks to follow 200.000 people in Spain for 20 years to better understand the origin of the main diseases

This national project is promoted by the Carlos III Health Institute through the Network Biomedical Research Center (Ciber) and, specifically in the region, it has the participation of the Health Research Institute of Aragon (IIS Aragón), of the Department of Health and the Aragonese Health Service.

The first autonomous communities to begin the project have been Castilla-La Mancha, Madrid, the Balearic Islands and Aragón. The first node selected in the territory is located in the Monzón health center, attended by participants from the basic health zones of Barbastro, Binéfar, Monzón Urbano and Monzón Rural. It will recruit 4.000 participants over five years.

This group has a pilot character for the Impact study due to the influence of the geographic dispersion for this type of studies, especially in the necessary loyalty of the population to complete the different questionnaires, explorations and obtaining samples that are carried out over time. In this way, it has been possible to test the intervention strategies and identify the factors that are most relevant to the study. It is important to evaluate these strategies to promote the recruitment and follow-up of participants and, once every five years, they will undergo a complete physical examination, answer a detailed health questionnaire and have biological samples taken. In addition, contacts will be made more frequent monitoring by phone or with computer applications.

At the moment, the Impact project is attracting participants "at a good pace": There are already more than 300 in the rural node of Monzón. As Patricia Penella, IIS Aragón project researcher, indicates: “Participation is being very active and makes it possible for us to develop this program in our area with complete normality.” They are thus satisfied with the evolution, “taking into account that many populations are covered.” This means that they must travel to the Monzón health center. This level of participation is higher in this rural node than in other urban nodes: “Perhaps it is due to the closeness and the feeling of being able to participate in a project that improves health.” «It seems to me – he concludes – that it is important that these research studies in Spain and that the people of the area where I live like it and want to participate.

In general, “acceptance is very good compared to other similar studies.” For their success, the organization recognizes that the key has been implication of Health, the dedication of the Impact project researchers and the availability of the primary care professionals of the included teams.

These data encourage imminent expansion of the project in Zaragoza. From the IIS Aragón, Luis Hijós, coordinator of the project in Aragon, points out the importance of citizen participation to guarantee the continuity of the project. To guarantee a faithful representation of the Spanish population, participants are chosen at random, as long as they are between 16 and 79 years old and are residents of Spain with public health coverage.

“First of all, for recruitment it is important to highlight the motto 'If they call you, come'. A person cannot volunteer. Only if she is selected can she participate.”

Luis Hijós, coordinator of the project in Aragon.

In Aragón, Hijós summarizes: “We are satisfied with the progress of the project with the number and level of participation achieved to date.” This means that the current strategy will be taken as a model for the next node to be implemented, which will take place in a basic health area in the capital Zaragoza.

"We must not forget - he adds - that thanks to the data from this study, it is intended, with the knowledge generated, improve the health status of the entire population residing in Spain. On the one hand, predictive models will be developed that will be used in preventive medicine. This prevention will be individualized and personalized based on the environmental characteristics of the place of residence or socioeconomic position.” On the other hand, it will help early diagnostic of the main diseases, “with the identification of measurable biomarkers in blood or other easily accessible biological samples.” In addition, the therapeutic strategies, through personalized treatment.

Impact is the Precision Medicine Infrastructure associated with Science and Technology created by the Carlos III Health Institute to facilitate the effective deployment of precision medicine in the National Health System. It is configured from three programs that act as the initial axis of an action that must structure the coherent incorporation of complementary research projects in the field of precision medicine: Data Science, Predictive Medicine and Genomic Medicine. These last two programs are coordinated by the Network Biomedical Research Center.

Source: Heraldo de Aragón

Image: Impact Cohort – A researcher from the Impact project tests a participant in Monzón