reality U-Prevent Connect for cardiovascular risk prediction through patient files

The ITEA project Secur-e-Health has enabled the development of U-Prevent Connect, an important step forward in cardiovascular risk prediction on a large scale. Addressing the challenge of administrative burden and manual data entry errors, U-Prevent Connect seamlessly integrates interactive cardiovascular disease risk profile determination with patient file systems. By automating data input, this innovation enhances efficiency and allows healthcare providers to spend more valuable time with patients. The impact of this development extends beyond convenience as it ensures more precise and personalised risk assessments, ultimately contributing to better cardiovascular health management.

At the core of this innovation is the U-Prevent Connect API, which facilitates a secure link between U-Prevent and various patient information systems. U-Prevent itself is a medical device compliant with the Medical Device Regulation and aligned with European cardiovascular risk management guidelines. This interactive web application enables healthcare providers to generate personal risk profiles based on key parameters such as age, gender, smoking habits, BMI, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels.

The integration of the Connect API allows for automated data retrieval, reducing errors and improving the accuracy of risk assessments. By leveraging the validated U-Prevent algorithms, healthcare professionals can work with patients to make informed decisions regarding medication and lifestyle interventions. Decision-making based on personalised risk assessments and lifetime benefits of treatment, for a Dutch population of about 8,000 patients, results in an increase of more than 18,000 cardiovascular-free life years, as well as a decrease of around 850 cardiovascular events in the next 10 years, compared with treating patients according to a risk factor-based approach (Hageman et al. 2021, https://doi.org/10.1093/eurjpc/zwab028). In patients, shared decision-making based on personalised risk and treatment assessments will result in short-term lower stress about decision-making on continuing or altering current treatments (Jaspers et al. 2021, https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-041673).

The impact of U-Prevent Connect is already evident, with UMC Utrecht in the Netherlands pioneering its use. Given the strong interest from the medical community, more implementations are expected in the near future. Currently, over 2,000 European healthcare providers utilise U-Prevent, benefiting from its ability to calculate personalised cardiovascular risk profiles and assess the potential impact of various treatment options. Additionally, the Secur-e-Health programme has paved the way for future improvements by enabling the safe use of local demographic data to refine U-Prevent’s algorithms. Tests have shown that optimising algorithms with local data can enhance risk prediction accuracy considering demographic differences, and future users may be able to order tailored optimisations for their specific patient populations. This continued evolution promises to further strengthen U-Prevent’s role in personalised cardiovascular care.

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