Research highlights the critical role of GP data in understanding common heart condition

A study part-funded by us has identified 28 per cent more cases of atrial fibrillation by taking data from GPs into account than by looking at hospital data alone. Evidence of atrial fibrillation, a common and serious cardiac condition, was also recorded an average of 1.3 years earlier, according to the study published in the journal Europace.

The findings highlight the importance of access to comprehensive health care data, as well as communication across NHS settings, to inform our understanding of atrial fibrillation and other conditions, in order to improve patient care and save lives.

The researchers at Oxford Population Health used data from 230,060 participants in UK Biobank who had agreed to allow access to their GP records and details of any hospital admissions.

They examined potential differences between people with atrial fibrillation recorded in different healthcare settings. Of these, 7,136 had a diagnosis of atrial fibrillation recorded during the seven years average follow-up period.

Hospital records alone not enough

Atrial fibrillation is a common condition where the upper chambers of the heart beat too quickly and irregularly; it is associated with higher risks of stroke and death. In the UK, many chronic conditions are diagnosed in the community, with an estimated 45 per cent of cases of atrial fibrillation first recorded in general practice.

This means that hospital records alone may not be enough to accurately determine the relevance of different risk factors, understand disease progression, or assess strategies for managing the condition.

Professor Bryan Williams, our Chief Scientific and Medical Officer, said: ‘Atrial fibrillation is a serious heart rhythm problem that significantly increases someone’s stroke risk if left untreated. It is crucial that we can detect this condition at an early stage so that doctors can take steps to treat the condition and prevent more strokes.

‘This study addresses a hugely important challenge for the modern era of wearable technologies, notably, how to integrate data from technology into NHS data systems so that clinicians can actually access and act on the data. The study shows that when this integration of the patient’s primary care and hospital records is achieved, many more cases of atrial fibrillation can be identified, allowing doctors to act to limit its consequences.

‘Linking data from across different healthcare settings can unlock new understanding and better ways of treating and managing common conditions, helping us make more breakthroughs for cardiovascular patients. Helping researchers and clinicians to do this, while maintaining people’s trust in the use of this data, must be a focus for the Government.’

The power of data

The study also found that patients who had their atrial fibrillation spotted in GP data had higher rates of treatment to reduce their stroke risk, and lower rates of death. Atrial fibrillation only recorded in hospital data was associated with more established heart disease and prior medication use.

Jemma Hopewell, Professor of Precision Medicine and Epidemiology at Oxford Population Health and senior author of the study, said: ‘Access to electronic healthcare records has revolutionised large-scale epidemiological research, but we need to consider the richness of the data available and not rely on hospital records alone to study chronic conditions such as atrial fibrillation. Our findings show that data from across healthcare settings are extremely powerful for understanding patient profiles, management and consequences of atrial fibrillation. These insights can then be used to develop new strategies that will allow us to improve patient outcomes.

‘Our study reinforces the importance of rapid implementation of recommendations from the Sudlow Review, which called for improved access to different types of health data to accelerate our understanding of common conditions.’

This research was funded by us and the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR) Oxford Biomedical Research Centre (BRC).

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