Watch the interview with Dr Kanita Karađuzović-Hadžiabdić

Although lungs are the main organs involved in COVID-19, one of the major systems affected by the virus is the cardiovascular system. The presence of pre-existing cardiovascular disease increases mortality in patients with COVID-19, and cardiovascular injuries are observed in some patients with COVID-19. It is estimated that 20% of patients infected with COVID-19 do not die from pulmonary but cardiac problems. This is precisely the issue that the COVIRNA project is trying to address.

The main goal of the project is to identify COVID-19 patients at risk of developing cardiovascular problems and look into ways they can be managed properly. The project will generate a novel diagnostic tool that will help healthcare providers improve individualised surveillance, care and follow-up of COVID-19 patients in the context of the current pandemic. COVIRNA is a great example of how healthcare can be improved by adopting a personalised medicine approach, and ultimately contribute towards alleviating the socioeconomic burden of the current COVID-19 pandemic.

EHMA’s Executive Director, George Valiotis, sat down with Dr Kanita Karađuzović-Hadžiabdić, Assistant Professor at the International University of Sarajevo, one of the COVIRNA partners. They talked about how the COVIRNA project first started, the role of AI and machine learning in developing the COVIRNA diagnostic tool, and the extensibility of the COVIRNA project to other pandemics. You can watch the interview below.

The project brings together 15 partners from 12 European countries. The partner organisations represent complementary expertise including academia, research, industry, health managers, and healthcare professionals. EHMA is the leader of the Work Package on dissemination and communication. It is responsible for raising awareness of the project, facilitating the uptake of the project outputs and disseminating the project results to target end-users.

» Watch the official video of the COVIRNA project
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