The Mayo Clinic Executive office, led by CEO and President Dr. Gianrico Farrugia, awarded FAITH! with additional funding to expand upon the original FAITH! App trial and look into the influence between psychosocial factors, social determinants of health and issues such as structural racism on heart health in African-Americans. Participants from the original trial took part in more in-depth, one-time health assessment which included laboratory studies, an echocardiogram, electrocardiogram (ECG) and cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) measurements. Additionally, participants completed an extensive survey and took part in virtual focus groups discussing the impacts of events such as structural racism, police brutality and the COVID-19 pandemic on their ability to lead a healthy lifestyle. The results of this study are currently being prepared for a manuscript.
This study was performed in collaboration with Dr. Jeremy Van’t Hof and Natalia Florea from the University of Minnesota who assisted in performing and interpreting echocardiograms for our team.
Dr. David Harmon, Jr, a Mayo Clinic Cardiovascular Medicine Fellow and mentee of Dr. Brewer’s, utilized the ECG data collected in this study and an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm to assess whether ECGs can accurately predict a patient’s risk of heart disease. He recently published his findings, which showed that this is indeed a successful tool for assessing heart health, which is important as an ECG is faster and generally more accessible than an echocardiogram. This has positive implications for future heart health screenings. You can read more about Dr. Harmon’s study here: