PhD defence V.J. (Victor) van den Berg

For this thesis we had two main questions. Firstly, we wanted to investigate whether repeating biomarker measurements during the follow-up of a patient with acquired heart disease leads to more accurate prediction models for future heart disease than traditional prediction models using a single baseline measurement. Secondly, we wanted to see how stable the measured concentrations of some commonly used blood biomarkers are during follow-up in clinically stable patients. For our studies, we focused on patients who had suffered an acute coronary infarction (ACS) and on patients with heart failure (HF).

To investigate these research questions, we used data from two studies. In the first study, the BIOMArCS, patients after acute coronary syndrome were followed up for a year with initially 2 weekly and later monthly blood draws. In the second study, the Bio-SHiFT, patients with chronic heart failure were followed up with blood draws every 3 months for up to 3 years.
The main outcomes we found were

• within stable patients, biomarker concentrations in the blood can (substantially) vary around the patient's mean value. It is important to take this variation into account if you want to make decisions or make forecasts based on biomarker concentrations.
• Repeated blood biomarker measurements lead to a better understanding of the prognosis of patients with heart failure compared to a single baseline measurement
• Repeated blood biomarker measurements unfortunately provide little additional prognostic information in patients who have had an acute coronary syndrome compared to a single baseline measurement.

The public defence will take place at the Prof. Andries Queridoroom, 3rd floor Education Center, Erasmus MC. The ceremony will begin exactly at 10.30 AM. In light of the solemn nature of the ceremony, we recommend that you do not take children under the age of 6 to the first part of the ceremony.