First evidence of value of electronic patient records in research

The UK medical charity the Wellcome Trust and UK Research Councils Joint Initiative in Electronic Patient Records and Databases in Research have generated the first evidence of the value of using electronic patient records as the basis of research.

Two papers published as part of this programme provide insights into the use of antibiotics to treat respiratory tract infections, and the methodology of stroke research. As such, says the Wellcome Trust, they illustrate the potential of electronic patient databases to deliver key analyses that can help improve health care and public health. The work also advances the methodologies researchers can use to analyse large datasets from electronic records.

“These two papers illustrate the immense potential of electronic patient records to provide new information of public health importance across a range of different health problems,” said Martin Gulliford from the Division of Health and Social Care Research at King's College London and lead author on both papers.

In the first paper, researchers from King’s College London, the University of Southampton and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency estimated trends in primary care consultations and the prescription of antibiotics to treat acute respiratory tract infections in the UK from 1997 to 2006.

Analysing data from 100,000 subjects registered with 78 family practices in the UK General Practice Research Database, the researchers found a decreasing frequency of consultation and antibiotic prescription for colds, rhinitis and upper respiratory tract infections. They say that this decrease continues to drive a reduction in the use of antibiotics.

In the second paper, researchers from the Division of Health and Social Care Research evaluated medical codes used by researchers to identify patients diagnosed with acute stroke, and how these have changed over time.

The e-Health Funding Initiative was launched in 2008 by the Wellcome Trust, the Economic and Social Research Council, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the Medical Research Council. A total of £10.6 million was awarded to 17 projects with the Trust contributing £9.3 million.