Causes and consequences of heart failure in Chinese adults (MRC PHRU)

background

Heart failure is a common condition requiring hospitalisation that is associated with a high risk of recurrent hospitalisation and premature death. Previous studies have reported high rates of hospital readmission and poor rates of 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 cases with heart failure in Chinese adults.  The China Kadoorie Biobank (CKB) is a cohort study 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. To date, there have been >10,000 incident cases of heart failure. Additional medical records of diagnosed cases (including clinical, imaging, biochemical data) are being collected (>1000 done) to further confirm diagnoses and classify subtypes of heart failure. 

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE, RESEARCH METHODS AND TRAINING

The DPhil includes the following research objectives:

• To describe the patterns and clinical characteristics of individuals with reported diagnoses of heart failure, overall and by area, sex and socioeconomic group;
• To examine the main non-genetic risk factors  (e.g., blood pressure, smoking, alcohol drinking, lipids) for the development of heart failure;
• To estimate relative and absolute risks for recurrent hospital admission and death among individuals with heart failure, overall and by subtypes;

To explore algorithms for diagnosis of subtypes of heart failure using electronic medical records.

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 writing project proposals and presenting the research findings at local, national, and international meetings. The candidate will be expected to publish at least peer-reviewed papers as lead author by the end of their DPhil.

prospective candidate

Candidates should have a degree in Medicine, Public Health or Biomedical Science and have postgraduate training or experience in Epidemiology or Statistics.