The use of routine healthcare data in the development of efficient personalised medicine trials in heterogeneous critical care populations

Novel clinical trial design is needed to reduce the burden of research on patients, reduce costs, and improve efficiency. High quality routine healthcare data can help identify at-risk groups and quantify important outcomes. 

This work is framed around patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD) which means they have a vulnerable heart muscle that is at risk of damage due to lack of oxygen. Interventions to increase oxygen delivery may benefit these patients. I will describe critically ill patients with CVD using data routinely collected in all Scottish hospitals. I will explore rates of cardiovascular events and mortality and identify groups where the cardiovascular risk is greatest, and therefore where cardiovascular interventions are most likely to be beneficial. I will explore the relationship between routinely collected vital-signs data in intensive care units and longer-term outcomes, and I will also develop my expertise in efficient trial methodology.

My findings may improve the use of routinely collected data to improve targeted interventions for people with CVD.