Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Tools of the Trade
  • Published:

Building the Australian Cardiovascular disease Data Commons

Nature Reviews Cardiology volume 22, page 837 (2025)Cite this article

Subjects

Access through your institution
Buy or subscribe

Cardiovascular disease remains a leading cause of death around the world. Although a tremendous amount of work has advanced our understanding of standard modifiable risk factors associated with disease risk, which has been the focus of primary prevention strategies for decades, a growing number of patients with cardiovascular disease present with few or no risk factors. Indeed, in a large number of individuals, coronary artery disease can silently develop over many years, and these patients remain unaware and asymptomatic until a major adverse cardiovascular event occurs. Early detection of disease processes and the discovery of new disease-modifying pathways have the potential to prevent millions of cardiovascular events, which underscores the urgent need to identify novel biomarkers and mechanistic pathways that contribute to disease development.

Data harmonization and standardization is a key feature of the ACDC. Through extensive consultation with data custodians — often clinicians, clinical researchers and epidemiologists who are intimately familiar with the datasets — harmonization of clinical data and outcomes ensures that analysis-ready datasets are produced and available for researchers. Furthermore, omics datasets are undergoing harmonization using international best practices and consultation with the experts who created and use these datasets. This collaborative approach, drawing on data custodians who have been working in the field of cardiovascular research for the past 50 years as well as omics specialists (many of whom are leaders in their respective fields), ensures that data harmonization is aligned with current scientific standards and poised to maximize scientific and clinical impact.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Access through your institution

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the participants, data custodians, and investigators of the Australian Cardiovascular disease Data Commons (ACDC). The ACDC is funded by the Medical Research Future Fund (RFRHPI000110 and MRFCRI000210). The authors are supported by National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia Emerging Leadership and L3 Investigator Grants (2023/GNT2027256 and 2021/GNT2009965).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Metabolomics Laboratory, Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Corey Giles & Peter J. Meikle

  2. Baker Department of Cardiovascular Research Translation and Implementation, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Corey Giles & Peter J. Meikle

  3. Baker Department of Cardiometabolic Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Corey Giles & Peter J. Meikle

  4. Faculty of Medicine, Nursing & Health Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Corey Giles & Peter J. Meikle

Authors
  1. Corey Giles
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Peter J. Meikle
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Corey Giles or Peter J. Meikle.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Giles, C., Meikle, P.J. Building the Australian Cardiovascular disease Data Commons. Nat Rev Cardiol 22, 837 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41569-025-01208-0

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41569-025-01208-0

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing: Translational Research

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Translational Research newsletter — top stories in biotechnology, drug discovery and pharma.

Get what matters in translational research, free to your inbox weekly. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Translational Research