Evaluating the risk factors for the occurrence and outcomes of COVID-1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Evaluating the risk factors for the occurrence and outcomes of COVID-19 in Salford, and identifying at-risk individuals using automated screening of outpatient letters
IRAS ID
288508
Contact name
William Dixon
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Manchester
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 6 months, 6 days
Research summary
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to over 2M deaths globally and over 100k UK deaths by January 2021. The public need to understand the risks to them and their families, while such information also informs ever-evolving public health policy. There is a need to understand risk factors for the occurrence and progression of disease (namely, who is at higher risk, and what their risk is), and how to identify high-risk people to support public health measures such as shielding.
These questions can be addressed by data within the electronic health record collected during routine clinical care in the primary and secondary care settings (EHR).The proposed study will access single source secondary data (i.e. hospital data) as well as linked secondary data from GP practices and the local hospital in Salford. All data accessed by the research team will be stripped of their identifiable information (such as name, address, NHS number). We will answer the following questions:
1) Using patient characteristics, including diagnoses, from all primary care patients, can we identify factors that are associated with a higher risk of i) hospital admission with COVID and ii) poor outcomes following infection (namely, ITU admission and death)?
2) In those who are admitted to hospital, what factors influence the risk of COVID progression, and how does that risk change with time as assessed through their clinical treatment and observations during their admission?
3) For risk factors identified in this study and elsewhere, are we able to quickly identify patients under hospital care by automatically screening their hospital letters to find people with combinations of high-risk features such as immunosuppressive drugs and chronic diseases?The study will run for 18 months
REC name
North West - Greater Manchester East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/NW/0081
Date of REC Opinion
24 Mar 2021
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion