The presentation session of the PORTHOS Study, to the parliamentary group for health, took place yesterday at the Assembly of the Republic and was attended by the Dean of NOVA Medical School, Helena Canhão.
This epidemiological study on Heart Failure (HF) in the Portuguese Population is a work promoted by the Portuguese Society of Cardiology and AstraZeneca, in partnership with Nova Medical School.
Heart failure is one of the most common health problems in Portugal and the main cause of hospitalization for people over 65 years of age1. The current numbers of HF in our country are unknown, so the PORTHOS study is essential to know the population that suffers from this disease.
Its development comprises an innovative model of collaborative research, with a contemporary approach of proximity and articulation, through which it will be possible to generate knowledge for health policies, allocation of resources and adaptation of best practices and evidence to the prevention, care and treatment of cardiac insufficiency.
Aimed at a representative sample of the Portuguese population (5,616 participants) residing in mainland Portugal and aged 50 years or over, the study started in December 2021, in Matosinhos, and will take place throughout the national territory.
The Mobile Unit installed in a truck, duly equipped with technical and human resources, which has traveled the country, was installed today in the Assembly of the Republic, allowing participants to carry out the study procedures - which include blood collection, questionnaires, an electrocardiogram and an echocardiogram, and thus participate in what is the largest study on the prevalence of Heart Failure in Portugal.