Women’s cardiovascular health is an urgent clinical unmet need as reported by the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), as cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in women still tends to be underestimated by clinicians and women themselves. CVD is under-diagnosed, under-treated and poorly understood, more so in women in the 40-60 age group, when personalised risk assessment and prevention can have a positive impact on their health. In this context, CARAMEL will deliver an innovative personalised prevention model aimed at women 40-60yrs based upon a risk assessment stratification model considering sex and gender specific risk factors and a self-assessment and self-management approach using innovative digital technologies, empowering women to optimise their cardiovascular health. The proposed CVD-Risk Assessment and Stratification scheme will only be possible by the cumulative risk factors analysis, fueled by AI, emerging from a wide number of different data sources, including clinical data from EHR, medical imaging, biomarkers, metabolomics, lifestyle information (sleep, physical activity, diet) from large cohorts and biobanks. A consortium composed by 25 partners and Affiliated Entities coming from 11 countries, composed by 9 clinical entities, 6 research organisations and 10 industry and SMEs will develop, test and validate the personalised prevention program in observational and interventional studies in clinical sites in Colombia, Croatia, Greece, Lithuania and Spain. To that end, engagement of women aged 40-60, will take place from the onset on the co-design and co-creation of the studies and the self-management app ecosystem to be developed. Likewise, Gender in research will be mainstreamed all along the intervention. CARAMEL will also deliver policy recommendation and clinical guidelines supporting the design and update of CVD Plans by health authorities and healthcare providers, considering novel AI based risk models, applicable to women aged 40-60 yrs.

"The World Health Organization (WHO) in its “Global status report on noncommunicable diseases 2014” shows that the impact of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), also known as chronic diseases, is steadily growing. NCDs are the leading cause of death globally (68% of all deaths in 2012). The 4 main types of NCDs are cardiovascular (CVD) diseases (like cerebrovascular accidents or strokes and heart attacks), cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes. Cardiovascular diseases account for most NCD deaths (17.5 million people annually), followed by cancers (8.2 million), respiratory diseases (4 million), and diabetes (1.5 million). This proposal addresses the prevention and early diagnosis of 2 types of NCDs, Cardiovascular (CVD) diseases and diabetes, by providing health professionals a tool for automatic quantification of parameters of the retina and automatic detection of lesions of the retina, with capacity for prevention and/or early detection of various diseases. ULMA Embedded Solutions (UES) has developed a non-invasive and cost-effective tool for Automatic evaluation of Retinal Imaging Biomarkers (ARIB), which can be used in public health interventions delivered through a primary health-care approach to strengthen early detection and timely treatment of various diseases. Evidence shows that such interventions are excellent economic investments because, if applied to patients early, can reduce the need for more expensive treatment. "