Case studies | Understand Patient Data

Improving newborn screening

Using patient data to better screen for, and look after, newborn babies with congenital hypothyroidism.
- Individual care
- Diagnosis
Assessing the benefits of cholesterol lowering drugs

Recruiting thousands of people to a large scale statins clinical trial
- Treatment and prevention
Analysing local variation in stroke prevention

Comparing local performance on managing atrial fibrillation
- Treatment and prevention
- Planning
Demonstrating the safety of a treatment for heart failure

Analysing a potential link between angiotensin receptor blockers and cancer
- Treatment and prevention
- Patient safety
Studying the health of doctors to prove the dangers of smoking

Collecting data from thousands of British doctors to examine the health effects of smoking
- Understanding disease
- Treatment and prevention
How does lifestyle affect health?

Using patient data to understand the impact of diet on health
- Understanding disease
- Treatment and prevention
Understanding the impacts of genes, lifestyle and environment

UK Biobank stores health data on 500,000 volunteers to provide a resource for researchers
- Understanding disease
- Treatment and prevention
Working out who is at risk of cardiovascular disease

Using data to inform a risks assessment tool for cardiovascular disease
- Individual care
- Diagnosis
- Treatment and prevention
Prescribing statins to men without a history of heart attacks

Demonstrating the health and cost benefits of statin use
- Individual care
- Treatment and prevention
- Planning
Is there a link between asthma drugs and heart attacks?

Using GP data to assess the safety of a commonly prescribed asthma drug
- Individual care
- Treatment and prevention
- Patient safety