The C3 Study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The short and long-term cardiovascular consequences of critical illness: The C3 Study
IRAS ID
274165
Contact name
Robert Hatch
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Oxford University
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 3 months, 30 days
Research summary
Intensive care units (ICU) support critically ill patients who would otherwise succumb to their illnesses. Historically the benefit of ICU care to patients has been measured as survival. However, over the last three decades, survival of patients admitted to ICU has improved markedly, so more attention is being focused on the long-term health problems related to ICU care in survivors. Many of these problems significantly affect patients’ lives. The associations to the ICU stay are poorly understood, partly because they can occur many years later.
We will study one important group of conditions that are common after treatment on an ICU - strokes and diseases of the heart and blood vessels. There is evidence from other countries that these may be more common after care on an ICU. This may result from the patients underlying illnesses and also the long-term effects of ICU treatments during critical illness.
Currently we are unable to identify which patients are at risk of heart attacks and strokes. We need to understand who is at risk. There are well-established treatments to avoid these conditions in the community. This research will help decide who should be considered for these treatments after critical illness.
We will create a new database to containing patients’ vital signs, treatments and blood tests, data routinely collected in ICU. By linking these highly detailed ICU records with NHS long-term follow-up data, we can unpick what factors increase patients’ long-term risks and identify patients at highest risk of having heart attacks/strokes years after ICU care.
The aim of this study will be to find out which patients are at risk of heart attacks/strokes up to several years after discharge from an ICU. We will also study how much the treatment the patients received on ICU contributes to this risk.
REC name
South Central - Oxford B Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/SC/0105
Date of REC Opinion
21 Apr 2020
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion