Causes and consequences of heart failure in Chinese adults (MRC PHRU)
NDPH/19/24
This project will be supported with an MRC PHRU Studentship if there is a suitable candidate.
Background
Heart failure is a common condition that is associated with a high risk of recurrent hospitalisation and premature death. Previous studies have substantial disparities in survival among cases with heart failure, but little is known about the epidemiology of heart failure in China.
This DPhil project seeks to assess the incidence, determinants and prognosis of heart failure in the China Kadoorie Biobank (CKB) of 0.5M adults aged 30-79 years, which has a 10-year follow-up through linkage to death and disease registries and hospital admission records (www.ckbiobank.org). To date, there have been ~10,000 incident cases of heart failure. In 2018, medical records (including clinical, imaging, biochemical data) were used to confirm diagnoses and classify subtypes with heart failure.
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE, RESEARCH METHODS AND TRAINING
This DPhil project aims to:
- confirm diagnosis of heart failure and classify subtypes of heart failure;
- explore algorithms for diagnosis of subtypes of heart failure using electronic medical records;
- assess age- and sex-specific incidence of heart failure overall, by area, and socioeconomic group;
- estimate relative and absolute risks for recurrent hospital admission and death among individuals with heart failure.
FIELD WORK, SECONDMENTS, INDUSTRY PLACEMENTS AND TRAINING
By the end of their DPhil, it is expected that the candidate will be able to plan, undertake, interpret, and report their findings in a concise manner. The candidate will have acquired transferable skills including the writing of project proposals and presenting the research findings at local, national, and international meetings. It is anticipated that the candidate will publish their results by the end of their DPhil.
PROSPECTIVE CANDIDATE
Candidates should have a background in medicine, public health, biomedical or life sciences and have postgraduate training or experience in epidemiology or statistics.