CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE AND PREGNANCY RESEARCH COLLABORATIVE (CDPRC)
About us
The Oxford Cardiovascular Disease and Pregnancy Research Collaborative (CDPRC) was established in 2021. Our collaboration brings together specialists in cellular work, imaging, clinical trials and engineering across cardiovascular medicine, maternal & women’s health, fetal medicine, and global population health. Our aim is to facilitate innovative, cross-disciplinary thinking about the reasons cardiovascular diseases that emerge during pregnancy are linked with those that occur later in life and use these insights to identify new management approaches that benefit patients with cardiovascular diseases during pregnancy and throughout their life course.
Research groups involved in the collaboration make use of imaging and laboratory studies to identify early cardiac and vascular changes during the life of women and their children, particularly following a hypertensive pregnancy. Further work includes addressing the pathogenesis of women’s cardiovascular health disorders through genomic, molecular and environmental epidemiology research methods and focussing on improving the experience of patients by utilising big data to develop digital health interventions.
RESEARCH THEMES
Cellular and Basic Science We want to understand how changes in the systemic circulation including blood components, hormonal signalling, extracellular vesicles, endothelial cells and placenta are related to the initiation and development of cardiovascular diseases. |  Observational Imaging Studies We use multimodality imaging (including echocardiography, magnetic resonance imaging, vascular ultrasound and microvascular imaging) to identify the unique differences in cardiac, vascular, and cerebrovascular systems that mothers and their offspring have after pregnancy complications such as hypertensive pregnancy and preterm birth. |
Clinical Trials We conduct clinical trials to study the impact of cardiovascular disease in pregnancy and to evaluate the effects of interventions on health outcomes for both mother and child. |
Machine Learning We integrate large databases of electronic health records, observational imaging studies, clinical trials, meta-analyses and digital technologies to better understand the determinants and consequences of pregnancy complications and long-term risk of cardiovascular disease, and how to improve quality of care and health outcomes. |
Epidemiology and Global Health We apply epidemiological and quantitative research methods to carefully developed and design studies to understand the global burden and major determinants of cardiovascular diseases related to pregnancy complications. |
Applied Research in Public Health We use a variety of methodologies such as individual-patient meta-analysis, large-scale decentralised clinical trials, and digital health technologies (including using artificial intelligence) to understand cardiovascular risk management during and post pregnancy. |
Funders
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COLLABORATING DEPARTMENTS AND UNITS
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Latest News
The Oxford NIHR BRC sub-theme will bring together collaborators across Oxford to address maternal cardiac risk.
CDPRC seminars
MRC programme grant
A 5 year programme starting in 2022 to generate insights into how disease affects the heart, brain and vasculature, in women and children following a hypertensive pregnancy. Find out more.
Publications
Can heart failure phenotypes be predicted by cardiac remodelling peripartum or postpartum? Agarwal M et al. Front Cardiovasc Med. 2024 Aug 6
Novel Role of 5-Methyl-(6S)-Tetrahydrofolate in Mediating Endothelial Cell Tetrahydrobiopterin in Pregnancy and Implications for Gestational Hypertension Dickinson Y et al. Hypertension. 2024 Jul 23
Left Atrial Mechanics Following Preeclamptic Pregnancy O'Driscoll J et al. Hypertension. 2024 May 17
Long-Term Blood Pressure Control After Hypertensive Pregnancy Following Physician-Optimized Self-Management: The POP-HT Randomized Clinical Trial. Kitt J et al. JAMA. 2023 Nov 11
Cardiac Remodeling After Hypertensive Pregnancy Following Physician-Optimized Blood Pressure Self-Management: The POP-HT Randomized Clinical Trial Imaging Sub-study. Kitt J et al. Circulation. 2023 Nov 11.
Focused Cardiac Ultrasound to Guide the Diagnosis of Heart Failure in Pregnant Women in India. Alsharqi M et al. (2022) J Am Soc Echocardiogr. S0894-7317(22)00389-3.
Effect of Self-monitoring of Blood Pressure on Diagnosis of Hypertension During Higher-Risk Pregnancy: The BUMP 1 Randomized Clinical Trial. Tucker KL et al. (2022), JAMA 327(17):1656-1665
Short-Term Postpartum Blood Pressure Self-Management and Long-Term Blood Pressure Control: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Kitt JA. et al, (2021), Hypertension, 78, 469 - 479
Endothelial GTPCH (GTP Cyclohydrolase 1) and Tetrahydrobiopterin Regulate Gestational Blood Pressure, Uteroplacental Remodeling, and Fetal Growth. Chuaiphichai S. et al, (2021), Hypertension
Multicenter Cohort Study, With a Nested Randomized Comparison, to Examine the Cardiovascular Impact of Preterm Preeclampsia. McCarthy FP. et al, (2021), Hypertension
Association of Preterm Birth with Myocardial Fibrosis and Diastolic Dysfunction in Young Adulthood. Lewandowski A. et al, (2021), Journal of the American College of Cardiology
Proteomic Signature of Dysfunctional Circulating Endothelial Colony‐Forming Cells of Young Adults. Tan CMJ. et al, (2021), Journal of the American Heart Association
Preeclampsia and the Brain-A Long-term View. Kitt J. et al, (2021), JAMA Netw Open, 4
Variations in Cardiovascular Structure, Function, and Geometry in Midlife Associated With a History of Hypertensive Pregnancy. Boardman H. et al, (2020), Hypertension, 75, 1542 – 1550
Ruling out preeclampsia in the next 4 weeks using a soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase 1/placental growth factor ratio ≤38: secondary analysis of the Interventional Study on Prediction of Preeclampsia/Eclampsia in Women With Suspected Preeclampsia. Cerdeira AS et al. (2021) Am J Obstet Gynecol