“Non-laboratory-based screening tool for assessment of cardiovascular diseases: Indian non-laboratory heart study (INHAS)”- a research initiative supported by Department of Health Research (DHR), Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India.
Our goal is to create a solution that can predict the risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in advance using tools that don’t require a laboratory setting. This technology should be on par with established laboratory-based methods like the Framingham risk score (FRS), QRISK3, JBS3, WHO/ISH, INTERHEART Risk Scores (IHRS), and others. Currently, individuals seeking cardiac care often have to travel to secondary and tertiary healthcare centers, which can be challenging, especially in rural or underserved areas. Therefore, a reliable, simple, and non-laboratory-based screening tool would be highly beneficial in these regions.
What sets our project apart is our intention to develop this technology with the explicit goal of making it accessible to frontline healthcare workers. This way, it can seamlessly integrate into the existing mobile health (mHealth) platforms of the country’s primary healthcare system. We have collaborated closely with state governments during its development. This approach will facilitate the early identification of individuals at risk of CVD, enabling timely initiation of treatment. Ultimately, this will reduce the strain on tertiary care hospitals and reduce the economic and health burdens borne by patients. While the Revised NCD program places a strong emphasis on addressing CVD risk factors like diabetes and hypertension, it currently focuses on only these two aspects. Our proposal aims to strengthen the program by incorporating non-laboratory-based screening tools to identify vulnerable populations more comprehensively.