To support respiratory research, a synthetic asthma dataset was generated based on a real-world data, originally documenting 381 patients with physician-confirmed asthma who were admitted to secondary care at a single centre in 2019. The dataset is highly detailed, covering demographics, structured physiological data, medication records, and clinical outcomes. The synthetic version extends to 561 patients admitted over a year, offering insights into patient patterns, risk factors, and treatment strategies.

The dataset was created using the Synthetic Data Vault package, specifically employing the GAN synthesizer. Real data was first read and pre-processed, ensuring datetime columns were correctly parsed and identifiers were handled as strings. Metadata was defined to capture the schema, specifying field types and primary keys. This metadata guided the synthesizer in understanding the structure of the data. The GAN synthesizer was then fitted to the real data, learning the distributions and dependencies within. After fitting, the synthesizer generated synthetic data that mirrors the statistical properties and relationships of the original dataset.

Geography: The West Midlands has a population of 6 million & includes a diverse ethnic & socio-economic mix. UHB is one of the largest NHS Trusts in England, providing direct acute services & specialist care across four hospital sites, with 2.2 million patient episodes per year, 2750 beds & > 120 ITU bed capacity. UHB runs a fully electronic healthcare record (PICS; Birmingham Systems), a shared primary & secondary care record (Your Care Connected) & a patient portal “My Health”.

Data set availability: Data access is available via the PIONEER Hub for projects which will benefit the public or patients. This can be by developing a new understanding of disease, by providing insights into how to improve care, or by developing new models, tools, treatments, or care processes. Data access can be provided to NHS, academic, commercial, policy and third sector organisations. Applications from SMEs are welcome. There is a single data access process, with public oversight provided by our public review committee, the Data Trust Committee. Contact pioneer@uhb.nhs.uk or visit www.pioneerdatahub.co.uk for more details.

Available supplementary data: Real world data. Matched controls; ambulance and community data. Unstructured data (images). We can provide the dataset in OMOP and other common data models and can provide real-world data upon request.

Available supplementary support: Analytics, model build, validation & refinement; A.I. support. Data partner support for ETL (extract, transform & load) processes. Bespoke and “off the shelf” Trusted Research Environment build and run. Consultancy with clinical, patient & end-user and purchaser access/ support. Support for regulatory requirements. Cohort discovery. Data-driven trials and “fast screen” services to assess population size.