 Each survey addresses a specific cardiovascular disease. A scientific expert committee is constituted. Composed of prominent specialists in the field that is being studied, the committee considers the relevant guidelines, as well as previous clinical trials and follow up cohort studies, and develops the protocol and questionnaire. It also analyses and interprets the collected data, assisted by the Methodology and Data Management Committee. The Scientific Expert Committee works in consultation with the Committee on Scientific and Clinical Initiatives (Guidelines) of the European Society of Cardiology, and with the appropriate Working Groups. Each country has a National Co-ordinator (a national authority in cardiology) who represents the Euro Heart Survey at national level and helps to select appropriate hospitals for the survey. The data is collected over a 1-4 month period by qualified DCO's (Data Collection Officers) and entered on-site in an electronic database. The content of the database is then transferred to the Euro Heart Survey Department at the Heart House (in Sophia Antipolis, France) via the Internet where it is submitted to a quality data check. When the data has successfully passed this procedure it is considered to be final and ready for analysis. |