World Patient Safety Day: data project helps identify diabetes risk earlier

“Safe care for life” for patients with non-communicable diseases is the theme for this year’s World Patient Safety Day.

For people living with long term conditions, safe care means receiving the right support at the right time, from early diagnosis through to ongoing management.

Diabetes is one such condition. It is highly prevalent worldwide, and many people live with it without knowing. If left undetected, it can have a significant impact on patients’ health. Variations in testing across geographic areas and gaps in access to care can contribute to delayed treatment, but early identification can reduce the risk of complications and support better health outcomes.

With this challenge in mind, Synnovis has been exploring how existing healthcare data can help identify people who may be at risk before complications develop.

The SHINE (Synnovis Health Innovation for Navigating inEquality) project is investigating how existing healthcare data can help identify people who may be living with undiagnosed diabetes, or pre-diabetes, and would benefit the most from earlier testing and intervention.

The model uses machine learning to analyse factors such as age, ethnicity and health history to predict which patients are most likely to receive a positive result if tested.

Tom Morris, Genomics Transformation Lead at Synnovis and lead for the project, said:

“By using this model, less widespread testing needs to be performed, and the end-to-end diagnostic costs are reduced. Most importantly, it helps us focus on the patients who are most likely to benefit from earlier intervention but might otherwise go undetected.”

During the pilot, the model identified significantly more people with abnormal HbA1c results, increasing the positive detection rate by 186% despite testing a smaller, more targeted group of patients. HbA1c is a blood test commonly used to identify people with diabetes or pre-diabetes.

Safe care for life depends on identifying risks early and ensuring people can access the support they need. Synnovis is helping to make that possible by using existing healthcare data to inform more targeted testing for patients who need it most.