UTRECHT – Researchers are preparing a self-test for a population screening to detect cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney damage at an early stage. Residents between the ages of 50 and 75 from the Utrecht, Breda, Arnhem and Eindhoven region can expect an invitation for this next year.
The research is called Check@Home and is an initiative of the Dutch CardioVasculair Alliance (DCVA), in which the Heart Foundation, the Kidney Foundation and the Diabetes Fund also participate. People who want to participate in the study will receive a kit that they can use to test themselves.
A total of 160,000 people will be invited for the study, 40,000 of which are from the Utrecht region. The population screening is being conducted under the supervision of UMCG nephrologist Ron Gansevoort. “According to current guidelines, all Dutch people over the age of 50 must be screened for, for example, cholesterol and diabetes, but in practice that does not happen,” the nephrologist tells Radio M Utrecht. “The costs of this are high and GPs can’t handle that at all.”
That is why we are working on a different approach. “People with a home test can show that they have an increased risk, we will then invite that group for additional testing,” explains Gansevoort. Participants in the study can test for kidney failure with a urine test. Cardiovascular diseases will be checked with a heart rhythm test via an app and type 2 diabetes will be investigated with a blood test.
Advantages of preventive research
Rebecca Abma-Schouten, head of Research and Care Innovation at the Heart Foundation, says that in about 20 to 50 percent of people there are early indications of cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney damage and type 2 diabetes. “They don’t notice this. If these diseases are detected and treated at an early stage, we prevent the development of serious complications.”
In the Netherlands there are a total of 1.5 million people with cardiovascular disease, 1.7 million people with chronic kidney damage and more than 1 million people with type 2 diabetes. This number is expected to increase in the coming years, due to the aging population. There is currently no preventive research in the Netherlands into type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and chronic kidney damage at an early stage. The self-tests should reduce health loss by a quarter over the next ten years.
People who want to participate in the study can expect an invitation in the summer of 2023.
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