Key result
Lack of stakeholder interaction emerges as the primary barrier to heart failure research in India.
Why the study?
Heart failure is an emerging health problem in India with a profile divergent from elsewhere, necessitating identified lacunae and recommendations to improve research.
This qualitative survey provides a prioritized roadmap for heart failure research in India by highlighting critical gaps such as the lack of stakeholder interaction, epidemiological data, and indigenous technology.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Stakeholder interaction gaps may hinder Indian HF research progress; leaves open whether taskforces will enhance outcomes.
Background & objectives: Heart failure (HF) is emerging as a major health problem in India. The profile of HF in India is divergent from elsewhere in the world. While cardiologists must equip themselves with the requisite clinical management tools, scientists and health policymakers would need epidemiological data on HF and information on the resources required to meet the challenges ahead. The aim of this study was to identify the lacunae and to suggest recommendations to improve HF research. Methods: We surveyed a multidisciplinary group of HF experts using a two stage process. An email-based survey was conducted using a structured questionnaire, followed by an online discussion. The experts prioritized the major challenges in convergence research in India and inter-rater agreement values were calculated. In addition, they enlisted potential research gaps and barriers in the domains of epidemiology, diagnostics, management and technology and suggested recommendations to overcome those barriers. Results: The experts identified a paucity of data on HF burden, lack of state-of-the-art diagnostic facilities and trained personnel, overt dependence on imported devices/equipment/reagents, lack of interaction/awareness/information among stakeholders and lack of biobanks, as major barriers in HF research. Three fourths of the experts agreed that lack of interaction among stakeholders was the major challenge with the highest inter-rater agreement in both stages (19 out of 25 and 11 out of 17, respectively). The experts recommended the creation of multidisciplinary taskforces dedicated to population sciences, data sciences, technology development and patient management with short-, intermediate- and long-term strategies. Interpretation & conclusions: The study generated a wish list for advances in HF research and management, and proposed recommendations for facilitating convergence research as a way forward to reduce the burden of HF in India.
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Harikrishnan et al. (2023) studied Experts in Heart Failure research (n=42). Two-stage qualitative survey was evaluated on Consensus on major challenges in heart failure convergence research. A qualitative survey of multidisciplinary experts identified the lack of interaction among stakeholders as the major challenge in heart failure research in India.
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