The Cohort IMPaCT project will study the health of the population with a preventive and personalized vision
The Cohort IMPaCT project is an initiative of the Carlos III Health Institute of the Ministry of Science and Innovation and Universities which aims to study the causes and evolution of diseases in the population. For twenty years, thousands of people who will voluntarily participate in the study will be followed extensively. This is one of the most ambitious projects that have been carried out in Spain and in Europe in the field of public health.
The main researcher of the study in Catalonia, Josep Basora Gallisà, director of the IDIAPJGol, explained that this project will make it possible to apply personalized and precision medicine techniques to people between 16 and 79 years old. Thus, it will be possible to identify the risk and protection factors of the most prevalent diseases and design more effective prevention and treatment strategies adapted to each person. “It is the first major project on a par with other European countries; so far many of the applied results come from foreign cohorts without knowing if they adapt to our population,” he said.
Nine municipalities in Camp de Tarragona, the first to participate in the study
The Cohort IMPaCT study will be developed in a first phase in nine municipalities of Camp de Tarragona: Pallaresos, Constantí, el Morell, Vilallonga del Camp, el Rourell, la Secuita, Perafort, la Pobla de Mafumet and les Garidells, as well as the neighborhood of Sant Ramon and Sant Salvador in Tarragona. Later, it will be extended to other towns in Catalonia such as Aldea (Baix Ebre), Sant Fost de Campsentelles (Vallès Oriental), Manresa, Lleida and Hospitalet de Llobregat.
The study sample includes people between 16 and 79 years old who will be called from the primary care center where the research is coordinated to ask if they want to participate. The monitoring of the participants will be done by collecting information about their lifestyle and state of health, through the completion of questionnaires, physical examinations and physiological tests and the analysis of biomarkers, which will be carried out at the same CAP .
An opportunity for citizens to influence their health and that of future generations
The promoters of the study have called on the public to collaborate in this project, which they consider an opportunity for the population to influence their health and that of future generations. Olga Ochoa, Director of Primary Care at the ICS Camp de Tarragona, has said that this is one of the largest studies that have ever been done to move towards prevention and personalized health care. For her part, the manager of the Camp de Tarragona Health Region, Imma Grau Farrús, remarked that “this is not just an investigation, but an opportunity for citizens to influence their health and that of future generations”. In this regard, he has appealed to the public and asked all people who receive a call from their CAP to join.