Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the biggest cause of mortality in India, Apollo Hospitals said. About 25 percent of mortalities – amongst the age group of 25 to 69 years – attributed to CVDs. The condition also seems to affect Indians at least a decade earlier as compared to Europeans.

With the aim of improving preventive care for cardiovascular disease in India, Apollo Hospitals and Abbott are jointly working towards building the country’s first cardiac registry. As part of the registry, both the organizations will collect heart health data of patients visiting Apollo Hospitals across the country, including troponin levels measured by Abbott’s High Sensitive Troponin-I blood test, Apollo Hospitals said in a release in Hyderabad on 13th June. The data collected as part of the cardiac registry will help researchers better understand how heart disease impacts Indians, as well as patterns in cardiac risk that can help prevent CVDs and enable physicians and patients to manage their condition much more efficiently.

According to the American Heart Association, setting up of cardiac registries in the US has helped hospitals and physicians improve the quality of care provided to the patients. Setting up a national cardiac registry in India would help physicians save countless lives in the years to come. Apollo Hospitals Joint Managing Director Dr Sangita Reddy, said, “Over the last decade, data has been central to improving the standard of care across the world. By setting up a national cardiac registry in India, we aim to collect invaluable data that would enable us improve cardiac care and save a number of lives.”

Apollo Hospitals in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata set up a pilot test last year to help its employees better understand their risk of developing heart disease. More than 16,000 Apollo's employees have been screened and the data collected has already been added to the registry. "As a leader in heart health, Apollo Hospitals is proud to pioneer the use of Abbott's blood test in India. Our employees have been the first to benefit from this initiative. We have already added the data collected to the registry and we will be making this blood test part of routine health check-ups to enable us capture more data," Dr Sangita added.

Preliminary findings from the pilot indicate that the test is able to identify a younger and wider set of patients at risk of developing heart diseases - ranging from low to medium to high. More than 80 percent of the people participating in the pilot were under the age of 45, and the captured data enabled researchers to identify high-risk patients in this age group, who do not typically get assessed for their risk for heart disease. Mr Agim Beshiri, M.D., Senior Medical Director, global Medical and Scientific affairs at Abbott's diagnostics business said, "This life-changing technology has the potential to transform how doctors identify those at risk for developing heart disease. Now, we have a simple and accessible blood test that is specific to the heart, sensitive for women and works across the age groups to address the earlier onset of heart disease in India."

Troponin blood tests have been used in emergency rooms to help aid in the diagnosis of a heart attack but now research shows it could be used in a preventive setting, Again added. Commenting on the strategic partnership between Apollo Hospitals and Abbott’s Diagnostics business, Narendra Varde, General Manager and Country Head at Abbott’s Diagnostics business said, “This is a unique collaboration that will help transform India’s approach to cardiac care. Armed with an ahead-of-time understanding of cardiac profiles, both doctors and surgeons will be better prepared to manage health outcomes, Mr Varde said.