The primary objective of this study is to generate better predictors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) focusing on stroke. We aim to detect potential genetic, optical coherence tomography (OCT), brain and heart-imaging parameters that may be correlated with previous CVD and could, in combination with other clinical (risk) factors, predict future cardiovascular events. In a second step, an evaluation of the progression of OCT- and neuroimaging derived risk factors on cardiovascular risk and cognitive outcome are planned. Moreover, we aim to get a better understanding of the causal relationships between the different risk factors and CVD outcomes potentially allowing to develop more effective prevention programs and treatments. For this purpose, we plan to develop a multi-modal causal model that is consistent with the observed multi-modal data and can be tested in future trials.
