Last week, doctor in training to become a specialist (AIOS) Sanne Snelder obtained her doctorate for the research CARDIOBESE, a study into the relationship between obesity (severe overweight) and heart failure, which Franciscus Gasthuis & Vlietland has conducted in collaboration with Maasstad Hospital and Erasmus MC financed by the BeterKeten.
First signs of heart failure
Together with cardiologist Bas van Dalen, she came to the conclusion that the first signs of heart failure can indeed be determined in time with a relatively simple ultrasound examination. That many obese people have already started heart damage without knowing it and that something can be done about it. Due to a stomach reduction, half of the obese patients with starting complaints have a normally functioning heart a year after the operation.
Big problem
Obesity is becoming more common and is a major public health problem. There is also a clear increase in the number of people with a poor pumping function of the heart, heart failure, one of the main causes of death in the Netherlands. Snelder’s PhD research followed a hundred obese patients for three years, all of whom had a gastric bypass and fifty healthy people. Sanne Snelder, AIOS: ‘We knew that being seriously overweight increases the risk of heart failure, but we did not know that sixty percent of the group between 35 and 65 years of age with obesity who indicated that they had no complaints about their heart had initial heart damage. ‘
For 10 years already stimulates, initiates and facilitates the BeterKeten regional collaborations between hospitals on patient care and scientific research. Sanne Snelder is the first resident to receive a PhD with support from a BeterKeten subsidy.
Top Clinical Teaching Hospital (STZ)
Franciscus Gasthuis & Vlietland is a top clinical teaching hospital with a continuous focus on learning, training, innovation and research. Research should always be of benefit to patient care. The hundreds of studies that are carried out every year in STZ hospitals lead to countless innovations. In the field of technology, medical action or in the organization of care.
For more information, please visit www.franciscus.nl/wetenschap
Photo caption: Cardiologist Bas van Dalen and doctor in training to become specialist Sanne Snelder (in pre-corona time).
Source: Franciscus Gasthuis & Vlietland
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