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Surveillance and ascertainment of cardiovascular events. The Cardiovascular Health Study
D G Ives1, A L Fitzpatrick, D E Bild
1Department of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA.
Insights
The Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS) developed a robust protocol for tracking cardiovascular events in older adults. This detailed surveillance and adjudication method ensures accurate data collection for coronary heart disease and stroke incidence.
Area of Science:
- Epidemiology
- Cardiovascular Disease Research
Background:
- Prospective multicenter studies often lack detailed methods for cardiovascular event ascertainment and data collection.
- Accurate event surveillance is crucial for understanding disease incidence and outcomes in aging populations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To summarize the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS) events protocol.
- To describe methods for surveillance, ascertainment, and adjudication of cardiovascular events in older adults.
Main Methods:
- Detailed description of the CHS events protocol, including surveillance and ascertainment of hospitalized and nonhospitalized events.
- Utilization of medical records and supporting documents for comprehensive data collection.
- Standardized adjudication process for event classification by an expert committee.
Main Results:
- Presentation of data on the incidence and mortality of cardiovascular events.
- Analysis of the classification of adjudicated events.
- Assessment of agreement between expert adjudication and medical record diagnostic codes.
Conclusions:
- The CHS event ascertainment and adjudication techniques provide a successful model for comprehensive event documentation in older cohorts.
- The established protocol ensures high-quality data for cardiovascular disease research in aging populations.
Abstract:
While previous prospective multicenter studies have conducted cardiovascular disease surveillance, few have detailed the techniques relating to the ascertainment of and data collection for events. The Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS) is a population-based study of coronary heart disease and stroke in older adults. This article summarizes the CHS events protocol and describes the methods of surveillance and ascertainment of hospitalized and nonhospitalized events, the use of medical records and other support documents, organizational issues at the field center level, and the classification of events through an adjudication process. We present data on incidence and mortality, the classification of adjudicated events, and the agreement between classification by the Events Subcommittee and the medical records diagnostic codes. The CHS techniques are a successful model for complete ascertainment, investigation, and documentation of events in an older cohort.