Utrecht University’s Sophie Bots Awarded Dekker Grant for Advances in Heart Failure Research
Epidemiologist Sophie Bots has been awarded a Dekker grant of 252 thousand euros by the Dutch Heart Foundation (Hartstichting). Over the next three years, she will investigate whether heart failure medicines are equally effective and safe for both women and men. This will ultimately allow doctors to better determine which medications are best suited for each patient.
Women taking medicines for cardiovascular disease are twice as likely to experience side effects compared to men. These side effects can be serious, leading to hospitalization or permanent damage. Some women even avoid taking medication due to fear of these potential side effects, causing them to miss out on the benefits of treatment. As a consequence, their long-term health may deteriorate.
High risk
Women with heart failure are at a particularly high risk for side effects. The number of women with this condition is expected to strongly increase in the future. This makes it even more crucial to improve their treatment. “To achieve this, we need more knowledge about the differences between men and women,” Bots explains.
Men and women separately
Doctors always treat their patients according to established guidelines. This is also true in case of heart failure. These guidelines are based on large scientific studies on medicines. “However, many studies on heart failure have a drawback,” Bots clarifies. “Researchers rarely examine the effects and side effects of medicines separately for women and men. But you really want to know how safe and effective these medicines are for men and women independently.”
Re-analysing
Therefore, Bots is going to reanalyse the data from these studies, but this time broken down by sex. However, these studies often had (too) few women participants. To address this, Bots will also use data from large databases of patient records. These databases contain extensive anonymous information on various heart failure patients and their drug treatments in real-world settings. They therefore provide an accurate reflection of how women and men with heart failure are usually treated.
A better informed choice
Which medicine is best for a particular patient: medicine A or medicine B? Unfortunately, doctors cannot answer that question at the moment. That is why Bots will convert the research data into information to help doctors make this decision. She will also create a summary of the pros and cons of different treatments, so that doctors and patients can easily see which option is better and safer.