The "PROPHET" project, funded by the European Union's Horizon Europe program, aims to develop a Strategy Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) for personalized prevention in healthcare. One of its tasks, T2.1.1, focuses on mapping available biomarkers, including genetics, for risk prediction and stratification in cancer, cardiovascular, and neurodegenerative diseases, and their integration with digital technologies. The objective is to identify biomarkers in use or under development for personalized prevention in the adult population and highlight research gaps in primary and secondary prevention for the mentioned diseases.
To achieve this, a rapid scoping review method is recommended. Scoping reviews are transparent, systematic approaches that identify and describe evidence and evidence gaps related to a specific question of interest. The project conducted three separate rapid scoping reviews for cancer, cardiovascular, and neurodegenerative diseases. The results and conclusions are detailed in the report, accompanied by interactive evidence gap maps that allow users to access and download bibliographic information based on biomarker type, disease group, and prevention type.
The Evidence Gap Maps (EGMs) were created using EPPI-Mapper, an open-access web application. Covidence software was used for screening and data extraction, with R Studio and Python scripts utilized for data preparation and formatting. The EPPI-Mapper webtool generates interactive HTML files showcasing the graphical representation of the produced EGMs, which offer insights into the research landscape on biomarkers and personalized prevention strategies.