The COST Action VascAgeNet: A European network for research in vascular ageing is to be established and is open for interested persons to join

Abstract

The European COoperation in Science and Technology (COST) Action on vascular ageing (CA18216 - Network for Research in VascularAgeing, VascAgeNet, https://www.cost.eu/actions/CA18216/) was recently funded in the framework of the Horizon 2020 program. VascAgeNetwas initiated by 77 proposers from 25 European countries and international partners (USA and Australia), including 38 early career researchers,with the aim of refining, harmonizing, and promoting the use of vascular ageing biomarkers, in order to improve clinical practice and to reduce theburden of cardiovascular disease globally. The kick-off meeting took place in Brussels on 5 November 2019During the past decades, many efforts have been made to understand the phenomenon of vascular ageing and how to prevent or slow earlyvascular ageing. Increasing evidence shows that arterial stiffness is a reliable proxy for vascular age and provides an added predictive value for car-diovascular events, beyond classic risk factors and therefore can be useful in refining individualized risk. However, unmet needs remain, which cur-rently limit the assessment of vascular ageing in routine clinical practice including:(1) Complexity and heterogeneity of current techniques/devices and lack of easy-to-use, affordable techniques/devices;(2) Insufficient validation in clinical settings;(3) Fragmentation of expertise in few research labs globally and lack of penetration of new concepts within the wider clinical audience;(4) Lack of interventional studies demonstrating the usefulness of preventative strategies based on vascular aging assessment.In the next 4 years, an interdisciplinary network (VascAgeNet), including researchers, clinicians, industry parties, and public bodies, will worktogether to address these unmet needs. Openness is the keyword of COST Actions and thus we encourage interested parties to joinVascAgeNet, in order to advance research and technological developments related to vascular ageing, enhance clinical care and, ultimately,improve the quality of life for many worldwide.