ANA DEL BARRIO Madrid

Madrid

Updated Friday, March 8, 2024-00:11

  • Study Madrid residents are the oldest in Europe

A total of 20,000 Madrid residents will participate in a pioneering study in which

their health will be monitored over 20 years

.

Citizens will be subjected to detailed health questionnaires and exhaustive tests every five years to see how their condition is evolving.

The great novelty of this initiative is that it does not focus solely on clinical data, but goes much further and will also analyze the

environment, social context and economic situation

of each user to see how these factors influence health. .

Through this research we aim to understand

the role of social, environmental and biological determinants

in health to understand more in depth the origin of the main ailments.

«It is about monitoring the health status of the population to better understand the causes of diseases and

predict how they will develop.

All the data collected will be made available to the scientific community that will be able to use it in other projects," Dr. Isabel del Cura, principal investigator of the study, explained to GRAN MADRID yesterday.

The project is centered around the Primary Care centers of the Community of Madrid, which are in charge of calling and recruiting participants.

The initiative began in 2023 at

the General Ricardos health center

in the Carabanchel district, where 350 people have already collaborated.

A month ago, a new research point was opened at

the María Montessori center in Leganés

, where Primary Care employees will progressively contact 4,000 local residents by telephone to invite them to intervene in the national macro-project called IMPaCT Cohort.

200,000 people throughout Spain

The idea is to analyze 200,000 people from all the autonomous communities, in a study that is coordinated and financed by the Carlos III Health Institute of the Ministry of Science and Innovation, while the Madrid Government is in charge of the infrastructure in the region and

the team of 15 experts hired

for the occasion.

Users

are chosen at random

to be representative of the population aged 16 to 79, so there cannot be volunteers who apply for the project.

At the moment, the degree of participation is quite high, above 50%.

First, a call is made from the health center to explain the project to the person and see if they want to collaborate.

Once you agree, you must sign the informed consent and

fill out a very complete health questionnaire

in which you are asked about your medical data, but also about your habits, your social conditions, your diet or your physical exercises.

The participant must go to their health center for about three days to undergo certain tests - which last seven hours - and

biological samples of blood, urine and nails

will be taken .

Yesterday it was the turn of Lucía López, 21 years old, one of the first people to participate in the study in Leganés.

There she had to undergo tests such as

a cycle ergometry, which measures effort while cycling,

or an audiometry to study her hearing.

Bicycle test for Lucía López.SERGIO GONZÁLEZ

Yesterday, López expressed her satisfaction at contributing to the experiment: "It caught my attention that they contacted me when I was so young, but they told me that they needed people of all ages.

They explained it to me very well and I saw that it was a great benefit because they will keep me under control and I

have a family history of cardiovascular problems

.

Furthermore, it is a privilege to know that it will serve future generations.

The exams vary depending on age, since from the age of 50 onwards,

cognitive impairment or the functional ability to move

is also studied .

Some tests have to be performed at home, such as the accelerometer test, which involves wearing a cuff on your wrist and thigh for a week in order to measure the exercise you practice.

One of the great advantages of the participants is that their clinical data

is passed to the family doctor

and, if any illness is detected, action can be taken quickly.

The project will be extended in the summer to three other health centers in the

Pilar neighborhood, Alcalá de Henares and Las Rozas

, where 4,000 Madrid residents will be studied in each area.

«For us it is a challenge.

Until now, all protocols were based on

similar studies carried out in the United States or Europe

, which have a very different population than ours.

This is the first study with our population, which analyzes our customs and our diets in order to implement preventive measures so that citizens do not get sick," concluded Ana López, director of the María Montessori of Leganés.

Lucía López undergoes the ankle-brachial index test.SG