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A retrospective cohort study to evaluate the association between normalized brain volume loss and healthcare resource utilization in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis
Safe People
Organisation name
Imperial College London
Organisation sector
Academic Institute
Applicant name(s)
Erik Mayer
Paul Matthews
Funders/ Sponsors
Antonio Scalfari
DEA accredited researcher?
Unknown
Sub-licence arrangements (if any)?
No
Safe Projects
Project ID
NIBDAPC_2024_0034
Lay summary
Multiple sclerosis is a chronic, debilitating disease of the body’s central nervous system that affects almost three million people worldwide. Young adults (20-40) typically develop Multiple Sclerosis with a strong gender bias, with women being more frequently diagnosed. Significant brain volume loss, considered an accurate measure of tissue damage, proceeds throughout the course of disease. Several studies using observational or clinical trial data have suggested a link between brain volume loss and disability progression in multiple sclerosis, although no systematic review of the existing research on the topic has been conducted to date. Similarly , greater disability progression has been widely shown to be associated with greater healthcare services usage (e.g. time spend in the NHS) in patients with multiple sclerosis. Although the associations between brain volume loss and disability progression, as well as between disability progression and healthcare services usage, are well established in Multiple Sclerosis, there are currently no data directly examining the association between brain volume loss and healthcare resource utilisation. To address this gap, this study will involve analysis of data to identify brain volume loss from medical images and evaluate the link between normalised brain volume loss and utilisation of healthcare services over time in patients with relapsing multiple sclerosis. Whilst Multiple Sclerosis is incurable, its progressing can be slowed. Thereby, it is important to understand how Multiple Sclerosis is progressing in patients, so that treatments can be provided to slow the progression of the disease most effectively. It is important to know how disease progression correlates with health system utilisation, so that we can both provide the right services to patients and measure effectiveness of treatments for patients in the future.
Public benefit statement
Understanding the relationship between healthcare utilisation and disease progression in Multiple Sclerosis patients will provide evidence towards, and improve our current understanding of, patient care needs and inform the development of monitoring tools to measure impact of future disease modifying treatment provided to patients with Multiple Sclerosis. Understanding disease progression in Multiple Sclerosis patients, through measurement of brain volume loss algorithmically, will provide the foundations of tools that can be used clinically to provide more accurate measurements than available through current manual processes. This algorithm will allow for clinical decision support in the clinical setting to enable a more personalised healthcare provision for Multiple Sclerosis patients by providing added insights and improvements in monitoring disease progression and additionally, leading to clinician time saving through Clinical Decision support through combining information from multiple data sources.
Request category type
Public Health Research
Other approval committees
Latest approval date
26/09/2024
Safe Data
Dataset(s) name
ICHT Multiple Sclerosis Data Model
Data sensitivity level
De-Personalised
Common Law Duty of Confidentiality
Not applicable
National data opt-out applied?
Not applicable
Request frequency
One-off
Safe Setting
Access type
TRE