American Heart Association Seeks SDOH Standards for Cardiovascular Disease
The American Heart Association (AHA) is seeking proposals for researchers to design and implement an approach for measuring the impact of social, environmental, and structural determinants of health with the aim of establishing standards for measuring SDOH and evaluating their impact on risk of cardiovascular disease and quality-of-life outcomes.
The AHA anticipates awarding two grants of up to $450,000 over two years. In its request for proposals, the AHA noted that the establishment of a common language and standard set of metrics in this field is critical to furthering the ability to combine data from multiple studies, measure impact, and improve the understanding of social and environmental variables.
The AHA said its goal is to bring together mission-aligned expert groups to establish standards to harmonize the collection, interpretation, validation, and access to data about SDOH and their relationship to quality-of-life and incidence of cardiovascular outcomes in the United States.
Consistent data across fields of expertise and community-based initiatives is critical for effective assessment of the impact on health and quality of life of structural determinants and conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age.
The AHA said the researchers can take advantage of its suite of resources and investments to improve the understanding of and strategies needed to address impact of SDOH on cardiovascular risk, quality of life, and other health outcomes.
In fact, applicants will be required to leverage the established cloud-based infrastructure of the AHA’s Precision Medicine Platform to measure, harmonize, and standardize SDOH information. Applicants also will be required to incorporate data from a portfolio of over 80 community projects funded by the AHA that comprise the AHA Social Impact Fund to minimize the social and economic barriers to health equity. These projects are driven by local entrepreneurs and organizations focused on addressing areas such as housing, access to healthy foods, water, employment, and mental health programs.
Applications may incorporate Research Goes Red, a joint initiative between the American Heart Association and Verily, into the research and analysis plan. Research Goes Red is a network of more than 11,000 women in the community, scientists, and clinicians focused on addressing women’s cardiovascular health.
Pre-proposal letters are due Dec. 8, 2021, via e-mail in PDF format to [email protected].
