Two Vall d’Hebron research projects receive grants from the City Council and the “La Caixa” Foundation

The City Council of Barcelona and the “La Caixa” Foundation have made public the seven projects that have obtained the highest scores and, therefore, will receive the subsidies from the extraordinary 2022 call, which is aimed at financing research and innovation projects, and is endowed with €1M (Of which €600 000 is provided by the City Council of Barcelona and the other €400 000 by the “La Caixa” Foundation), which is the result of a collaboration agreement between the two institutions within the framework of the Barcelona Science Plan 2020–2023.

Seven projects out of 59 applicants have been selected that presented proposals for the search for urban challenges on either of these two themes: ageing and quality of life, or mobility and respect for the protection of the environment.

The Deputy Mayor of Culture, Education, Science and Community, Jordi Martí, and the director of the Relations area with Research and Health institutions of the “La Caixa” Foundation, Ignasi López were both at the event, held at the City Council of Barcelona.

Impact of the LEZ (Low-emission Zone) in Barcelona on the incidence of cardiac arrhythmias in patients with cardiovascular disease

In the category of mobility and respect for the protection of the environment, the selected Vall d’Hebron project is: Impact of the LEZ (Low-emission Zone) in Barcelona on the incidence of cardiac arrhythmias in patients with cardiovascular disease

The project is led by Dr Begoña Benito, director of Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR) and primary researcher of the research group on cardiovascular diseases of the VHIR linked to CIBERCV. The Research Institute of the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau – IIB Sant Pau and the Hospital Clínic – Clinical Foundation for Biomedical Research (FCRB) collaborate.

We know that air pollution worsens global health, and, at the cardiovascular level, increases the risk of myocardial infarction, embolism or heart failure. “The relationship between contamination and the risk of cardiac arrhythmias has been scarcely studied, although arrhythmias are very frequent cardiovascular disorders associated with increased hospitalisations and cardiovascular death, especially in patients with an underlying heart disease,” says Dr Benito. Our hypothesis is that pollution is a trigger for arrhythmias in individuals with heart disease and that the implementation of population measures to reduce exposure to contamination could reduce the risk of arrhythmias in these patients.

Thus, the study raises two objectives: to evaluate the role of air pollution in an urban area (Barcelona) in the promotion of arrhythmias in patients with heart disease; and evaluate the impact of the implementation of the low emission zone in the city of Barcelona on the reduction of the incidence of arrhythmias and related complications such as hospitalisations and mortality.

A multicentric study will be carried out in three hospital centres in Barcelona that cover 80% of the population of the city. Patients with heart disease with a defibrillator- or resynchroniser-type intracardiac device will be included, which allows continuous monitoring of the heart rate and recovery of all arrhythmic episodes. Simultaneously, the daily data on air quality provided by the City Council of Barcelona will be collected, estimating the exposure of each patient according to the atmospheric/meteorological station closest to their home. The effects of contamination on arrhythmias will be studied through a time-series analysis (2017–2019 period). The impact of the implementation of the LEZ will be studied with an interrupted time-series analysis including the above data and the post-2020 data (2020–2022 period). In total, it is estimated to analyse over 6 million observations on data from over 1,300 patients.

With this study, it is expected to show that “the implementation of the LEZ results in a reduction in the incidence of arrhythmias (and related complications) in patients with heart disease,” concludes Dr Benito.

StopALD: Stop liver disease related to alcohol consumption

In the category Ageing and Quality of Life, the selected Vall d’Hebron project is StopALD: Stop Alcoholic Liver Disease (ALD).
The project is led by Dr Meritxell Ventura and Dr Juan M Pericàs, researchers from the liver disease research group at the VHIR and also from the CIBEREHD Advanced Chronic Liver Disease Group, both directed by Dr Joan Genescà. The University Institute for Primary Health Care Research Jordi Gol i Gurina (IDIAPJGol) and the Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) collaborate.

The main objective of the project is to identify patients with advanced ALD during the asymptomatic phases of the disease, as well as identifying the factors related to the lack of early detection to improve and implement interventions to address both the need for a diagnosis as soon as possible for ALD and the excessive consumption of alcohol among young people before liver disease develops.

This project is considered a priority in health prevention, since excessive alcohol consumption is one of the main risk factors for preventable disability and death. This pathology is the leading cause of cirrhosis globally and is responsible for 60% of cirrhosis in Europe and North America. “Finding new and better strategies to detect and treat ALD is increasingly important, and other risk factors for liver disease such as obesity and diabetes are increasing in Western countries,” the researchers point out.

One of the obstacles to reducing the incidence of ALD is the lack of early detection during asymptomatic phases, which is aggravated by its strong stigmatisation, particularly among women.

The project aims to define a series of recommendations to increase education in health and community health, support the needs of primary care in addressing disorders or pathologies caused by alcohol consumption, and improve the management of patients with or at risk of ALD through multidisciplinary interventions. Researchers expect that early and more accurate diagnosis, along with effective treatment, leads to more positive results in the patient’s prognosis.