Swiss-AF: Cutting edge research from the clinical practice
The Swiss Atrial Fibrillation Cohort Study (Swiss-AF) generates a large number of new research projects. A statistician from the Department of Clinical Research (DKF), who is permanently employed by the cardiology research team, conducts the analyses and shares his knowledge with the study team. In the future, the study team should also be able to carry out the analyses partially independently.
For more than a year, Michael Coslovsky, PhD, has held a dual role: in addition to his position as Head of Data Analysis at the DKF, he supports the cardiology research team of the University Hospital Basel (USB) in statistical matters with a workload of 40%.
The idea was born in 2017, when the research team led by Prof. Stefan Osswald (Chief Physician Cardiology) and Prof. Michael Kühne (Head of Atrial Fibrillation Clinic) was looking for a competent statistician and turned to the DKF.
<link typo3 www.swissaf.ch internal link in current>Swiss-AF is a prospective observational study funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, which is being conducted throughout Switzerland at a total of 13 centers to investigate the association between atrial fibrillation and impaired brain function. Between 2014 and 2017, 2415 patients were enrolled. Recently, the first fundamental results were published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. A correlation between structural brain changes (brain lesions) and cognitive performance was shown.
It was important for us to have a statistician join the team who can intensively familiarise himself with the content of the study and oversee the various research questions.
Prof. Stefan Osswald
The added value of an in-house statistician
Michael has brought with him the necessary experience and expertise and has since served as an in-house statistician for the cardiology research team. He coordinates the collaboration between the cardiology researchers and his DKF colleagues from data analysis and data management. Most of his commitment is dedicated to the Swiss-AF study. As a member of the Swiss-AF research group, he offers the team continuous statistical support and advice. Among other things, he is responsible for the planning and management of the data collection and the actual data analysis.
I learn a lot about the practical aspects of data collection, which are sometimes crucial for the planning and understanding of project-specific problems.
Michael Coslovsky, PhD
Through close cooperation with the research team, Michael has been able to acquire expertise in various areas of cardiology research over time. Certain medical correlations are now easier to understand. He also learns a lot about the practical aspects of data collection that can be crucial for planning and understanding project-specific problems, Michael says. This enables him to identify the specific problems in the analysis of cardiological data, allowing him to provide more precise information on the analyses.
Full articles in German
Department of Clinical Research, June 2019