VSDB: a large-scale vascular screening database

The paper describes VSDB, a large-scale vascular screening database being constructed as part of an industry/university partnership between Life Line Screening, Inc. and the University of South Florida. Strokes are one of the lending causes of death and disability in the United States. The economic costs of caring for patients afflicted by stroke represents a significant portion of total Medicare expenditures. The fact that most strokes are preventable and occur often in asymptomatic patients indicates that a widely available screening program may be an excellent tool in our fight against strokes. Increasingly, such screening programs are cited as the means toward stroke prevention. Life Line Screening, Inc. Is committed to providing such screening services and has recognized the potential value of historical screening data. In conjunction with the University of South Florida, a prototype vascular screening database is being designed and implemented. A pilot data collection effort is underway and will grow to several thousands of screens per month. Eventually, nationwide data from a wide variety of symptomatic and asymptomatic participants will be collected on an on-going basis. This database will provide a unique resource for healthcare research into the causes and risk factors of strokes.