September 1, 2022

Life's Simple 7 health score is positively associated with better arterial structure and function

The American Heart Association has created a simple health score consisting of seven characteristics that should help to improve health in a simple way. Researchers from the Department of Sports and Exercise Medicine at the University of Basel's Department of Sport, Exercise and Health have now been able to show that even healthy Swiss people have better arterial structure and function if their health score is also better.
The Life's Simple 7 is a score that includes various biological (BMI, cholesterol, systolic blood pressure, haemoglobin A1c) and behavioural parameters (smoking status, physical activity and diet). The aim is to illustrate in a clear way how a favourable lifestyle can improve health. Researchers from the Department of Sports and Exercise Medicine at the DSBG have now been able to show that in Swiss men and women from the Basel region aged between 50 and 91 from the COmPLETE cohort study, the wall thickness and diameter of the carotid artery and its distensibility were positively associated with a better score. The results signal that even in healthy individuals, lifestyle is associated with even better vascular health. The application of the Life's Simple 7 health score could be incorporated into clinical prevention practice to further influence health behaviours.
The convincing results can be read in the journal Nutrients with Gilles Nève as first author from Professor Arno Schmidt-Trucksäss' research group.

April 28, 2022

Nutrition screening also possible with visual support

Short questionnaires, the so-called Food Frequency Questionnaires, are typically used to screen nutrition. A research team from the Department of Sports and Exercise Medicine at the Department of Sport, Exercise and Health at the University of Basel, the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Zurich and the Institute for Nutrition and Beverage Innovation at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences have now validated a visually assisted nutrition questionnaire that should simplify the survey.
The Swiss food pyramid is known in numerous countries and has been used there for decades to provide an overview of nutrition. Researchers at the University of Basel in cooperation with the University of Zurich and the Zurich University of Applied Sciences have now validated a questionnaire that depicts the Swiss food pyramid and thus visually helps respondents to recapitulate their typical diet.
Compared to a seven-day diet diary, the validation study showed very good agreement on total energy intake, consumption of proteins, fats and carbohydrates, especially among older participants.
The results can be read in the respected journal Frontiers in Nutrition with first author Gilles Nève from Professor Arno Schmidt-Trucksäss' research group.

December 16, 2021

Metabolic impairment in coronary artery disease: elevated serum acylcarnitines under the spotlights

Serum levels of acylcarnitine and branched-chain amino acids were examined in 116 healthy individuals and 54 patients with coronary artery disease in the COmPLETE cohort. Overall, coronary artery disease is characterized by increased short-, medium-, and long-chain acylcarnitine species and serum l-carnitine, valine, and isoleucine levels, indicating a mitochondrial imbalance between fatty acid and glucose oxidation. For 17 acylcarnitine species, the association became stronger the more coronary arteries were affected. This suggests that circulating acylcarnitine levels reflect the severity of coronary artery disease and may play a role in future strategies for stratifying patients.

November 14, 2021
Methodological aspects of accelerometer-based assessment of physical activity in heart failure and health

The study is based on activity data from the COmPLETE study and addresses factors that may influence the measurement of physical activity in healthy individuals and patients with heart failure. The results represent an important step toward improving the methodology for recording physical activity in scientific studies.

April 10, 2021
Metabolic view on human healthspan: a lipidome-wide association study

Age- and sex-related differences in the circulating lipidome composition were examined in a subset of the COmPLETE study (3rd and 8th age decade). Most circulating lipids showed higher levels with age. This was especially the case for sphingolipids and glycerophospholipids. Whether higher levels of such lipids contribute to healthy aging is currently unknown. In a further study we will try to answer this question.

February 18, 2021

Summary of previous insights from the COmPLETE-Project

On the left, we provide you with a 3-page summary of the most relevant results from the COmPLETE-Project. Feel free to download the file in pdf-format.

January 19, 2021

Endothelial function of healthy adults from 20 to 91 years of age: prediction of cardiovascular risk by vasoactive range

In this study, we are proud to present the first reference values for the brachial artery flow-mediated dilation and constriction in healthy adults. We were able to show that arterial function decreases with age, especially in our male population.

December 15, 2020

Composite Measures of Physical Fitness to Discriminate Between Healthy Aging and Heart Failure: The COmPLETE Study

In this study, we aimed to find differences regarding physiological function between a healthy aging population and subjects with heart failure. We found that biomarkers specific to physical fitness were useful to determine the differences between the two groups. Therefore, the application of our results may be used in interventions to increase health even at an older age.

August 01, 2020

Novel CPET Reference Values in Healthy Adults: Associations with Physical Activity

The purpose of this study was to establish reference values for maximal and submaximal cardiopulmonary parameters in a healthy European population. The study team found that high levels of physical activity had a strong correlation with cardiorespiratory fitness. Therefore, we recommend implementing high-intensity exercise to promote health across all age groups.

March 01, 2020

New Data-based Cutoffs for Maximal Exercise Criteria Across the Lifespan

Our team aimed at determining age-dependent cutoff values for secondary exhaustion criteria. Thanks to the data gathered in the COmPLETE study, new values were introduced for more precise results. 

October 3, 2019

Study protocol published

The COmPLETE team has recently published the protocol of the COmPLETE study in the Journal BMC Cardiovascular Disorders. The protocol describes in detail the study design and the various examination methods used in the COmPLETE-Health and COmPLETE-Heart Studies. The publication can be opened via the link below and is accessible free of charge:

https://bmccardiovascdisord.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12872-019-1164-6