Panaji: In a significant step, the Goa government has partnered with the Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai and Oxford University to carry out a 20-year longitudinal cohort study to help in early diagnosis of chronic and non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
The study, commissioned through a memorandum of understanding between the Directorate of Health Services, Tata Memorial Centre, and Oxford University, will conduct a random sampling of 40,000 people every year for three years in the initial phase.
The longitudinal study will follow the same group of people over an extended period to observe changes in health outcomes.
The MoU was signed on March 11 in the presence of Chief Minister Pramod Sawant.
According to experts, the data will help identify common risk factors for non-communicable diseases in specific parts of the coastal state, and it will also allow researchers to study the impact of lifestyle, environmental, and genetic factors on the development of these diseases.
Talking to PTI, Goa Medical College dean Dr Shivanand Bandekar said the government is talking about NCDs because the coastal state has the highest number of diabetes and hypertension patients.
“We have also witnessed young people suffering heart attacks and strokes. Considering this, we felt it was necessary to tie up with Tata Memorial Centre to find out the epidemiology of these conditions,” he said.
Dr Bandekar said Goa is not the pioneer in the project, and a similar study was underway at Barsi in Uttar Pradesh.
“A similar prototype (like in Barsi) will be set up at Goa Medical College, and this study will collect the blood samples of the suspected patients and store them in biobanks,” he said.
He said the analysis of these blood samples will help find out about the LDL (bad cholesterol) levels, lipid profile, and sugar levels of the patient, and he can be treated immediately to prevent complications.
“The study will cover 1,20,000 patients (over three years). Four places are selected for sampling, including Valpoi and Sankhalim (North Goa), and Canacona and Margao in South Goa,” he said.
Renowned surgeon and health expert Dr Shekhar Salkar from Manipal Hospital, Dona Paula, said the study will prove crucial in the long run.
Dr Rajesh Dixit, director of the Centre for Cancer Epidemiology at Tata Memorial Centre, said the study will help understand lifestyle, environmental and genetic risk factors that contribute to any disease.
“The study has three stages – one is enrolment of individuals, second is collecting information, and the third phase is calling these persons to the clinic, checking their blood pressure and collecting blood samples,” he said.
Dr Dixit said, “We will measure biological parameters for lipid and renal profile. When you do that, you can diagnose early kidney diseases, cardiac diseases and obesity. Thus, you can plan the intervention early.”
