The challenges of understanding atrial fibrillation
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common heart arrhythmia in the Western world, and affects approximately 60 million people worldwide. More than 350,000 people in the Netherlands have been diagnosed with the disease. Even though it’s not deadly on its own, people with AF are five times more likely to suffer from a stroke and associated life-changing damage compared to healthy people. Furthermore, living with AF increases the risk of developing heart failure and puts a lot of burden on the daily life of affected people.
Due to a lack of knowledge of the molecular mechanisms causing AF, and highly diverse manifestations, an effective cure and treatment has not yet been developed. This calls for new approaches in health research, including tailored solutions that take the patient’s perspective and experience into account. Identifying individual (lifestyle-related) targets for treatment, especially those that might prevent known risk factors such as hyperthyroidism, diabetes, obesity, and hypertension, could be helpful.
Addressing atrial fibrillation through a holistic exploration of triggers
The CIRCULAR consortium plans to address AF holistically by unravelling the underlying triggers of AF, developing innovative diagnostic tools, and pioneering new therapeutic strategies that reduce the burden of AF patients. This will be done by involving the affected population of patients closely throughout co-creation processes. For example, a selection of triggers has already been identified from the input of the AF community. These triggers will be explored further in upcoming consortium work packages.
Citizen science and patient engagement for effective solutions
CIRCULAR aims to employ citizen science and patient involvement as a new pioneering approach in the field of atrial fibrillation and cardiac arrhythmia. Different levels and modes of involvement will be used, such as leveraging patient experiences to identify new research targets, consulting patients on (intermediate) research outcomes and including patient representatives on the board of the consortium.
Athena’s role
The consortium consists of a number of partners, including, among others, the Atrial Fibrillation Innovation Platform (AFIP) Foundation, the Amsterdam University Medical Center (Amsterdam UMC), and Erasmus University Medical Center (Erasmus MC). The Athena Institute is in charge of work package 2, leading on activities around the sustainable co-creation of AF studies via AFIP’s patient platform and other means of citizen science and patient engagement. This includes conducting a study on the effectiveness of a whole food, plant-based diet on the burden of AF and the quality of life of people living with the condition. Furthermore, Athena’s researchers provide support in facilitating patient involvement throughout the consortium’s work packages, by conducting training and reflective workshops for consortium members.