Interactive databases for cardiac rehabilitation: the "CardioDB" electronic archive elaborated by the Don Carlo Gnocchi foundation

The main aim of Cardiac Rehabilitation is the reduction of new clinical events through cardiovascular risk factors control. In the Florence Cardiologic Unit of the Don Gnocchi Foundation Institute approximately 350 patients are managed each year. To perform a full follow-up analysis of the patients the data included in a traditional database are currently being transferred into the newly developed electronic archive of the Don Gnocchi Foundation. Through the insertion of the maximum possible quantity of numerical information as soon as it is available, clinical work is speeded up and a quality control of inserted data is possible. Such a system guarantees the possibility of producing complete diagnostic records by introducing numerical data; it also provides reports accounting for the outcome of treatments and even the discharge letter. The CardioDB is also functional for scientific research purposes since its quantitative content may be immediately accessed, processed and analyzed in statistical terms