Heart 'omics' in AGEing (HOMAGE): design, research objectives and characteristics of the common database

Heart failure is common in older people and its prevalence is increasing. The Heart 'omics' in AGEing (HOMAGE) project aims to provide a biomarker approach that will improve the early diagnosis of heart failure. A large clinical database, based on (1) prospective population studies or (2) cross-sectional, prospective studies or randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of patients at risk for or with overt cardiovascular disease will be constructed to determine most promising 'omics'-based biomarkers to identify the risk of developing heart failure and/or comorbidities. Population studies, patient cohorts and RCTs are eligible for inclusion in the common database, if they received ethical approval to obtain and share data and have baseline information on cardiovascular risk factors. Currently, the HOMAGE database includes 43,065 subjects, from 20 studies in eight European countries, including healthy subjects from three population studies in France, Belgium and Italy (n  =  7,124), patients with heart failure (n  =  4,312) from four cohorts in the UK, Spain and Switzerland and patients at high risk for cardiovascular disease (n  =  31,629) in 13 cohorts. It is anticipated that more partners will join the consortium and enlarge the pooled data. This large merged database will be a useful resource with which to identify candidate biomarkers that play a role in the mechanism underlying the onset and progression of heart failure.