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Demographic and outcome of patients presenting with respiratory viral infections
Safe People
Organisation name
Imperial College London
Organisation sector
Academic Institute
Applicant name(s)
Michelle Willicombe
Funders/ Sponsors
Stephen McAdoo
DEA accredited researcher?
Unknown
Sub-licence arrangements (if any)?
No
Safe Projects
Project ID
NIBDAPC_2024_0030
Lay summary
During the COVID-19 pandemic it was recognised that certain people, e.g. those with a compromised (weak) immune system, had a worse prognosis as they were unable to mount an appropriate immune response to fight off the infection. To try and improve the severity of symptoms, these people were given additional booster vaccines and also community treatment should they become infected. People with compromised immune systems are also at increased risk of severe infections from other common viruses, such as flu and a virus called respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). There has been recent approval for the use of a vaccine against RSV. The department of health plan to roll it out to young children and elderly people (70 years or older) in 2024. People with compromised immune systems under the age of 70 are not currently being considered for the vaccine. This is because there is currently no data which assesses the risk of RSV in the immune vulnerable. In a similar approach, the type of annual flu vaccine which is offered to people is based on age rather than how vulnerable their immune system is. At Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, when patients present with respiratory symptoms and are admitted they are swabbed with a kit which tests for COVID-19, flu and RSV at the same time. Using the iCARE data set, we will therefore be able to assess the features (e.g. age, ethnicity, co-morbidities (other health conditions people live with) of the patients who got swabbed, tested positive for each viruses and if they were admitted to hospital, how long for and whether they became severely unwell. This will help support or disprove the current planned policy of basing flu and RSV vaccines on age alone, and the COVID-19 vaccine on age plus immune compromised state.
Public benefit statement
This study aims to assess whether people younger than 70 years, including those with weakened immune systems experience severe symptoms related to RSV, and therefore may benefit from vaccination which will improve their health and quality of life.
Request category type
Public Health Research
Other approval committees
Project start date
28/02/2024
Latest approval date
06/02/2024
Safe Data
Dataset(s) name
ICHT iCARE 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
Release/Access date
28/02/2024
Safe Setting
Access type
TRE