The British Society of Echocardiography (BSE) is delighted to have allocated funding to the early stages of the new National Echocardiographic Database of the UK (NED-UK).
The study, which will determine the diagnostic and prognostic value of echocardiography using big data, will be jointly funded by the BSE and the British Heart Foundation (BHF). The initial project will be led by Professors Paul Leeson and David Oxborough.
The study was inspired by the Australian NEDA project which captured echocardiographic indices from examinations carried out in centres across Australia utilising nearly 20 million measurements from 500,000 individuals, identifying predictors of mortality. The UK is very different with a variably diverse population alongside standardised acquisition/reporting undertaken in accordance with our guidelines. These factors make the UK the ideal location and by linking into NHS Digital, the study hopes toestablish associations to mortality (as with NEDA) but uniquely to adverse events, hospitalisations, onward investigations and phenotype development whilst linking into socioeconomic groups, deprivation indices and geography.
The initial stage of the project will aim to develop the infrastructure for data extraction and anonymisation of 12000 clinical echocardiographic reports in a single institute including multi-vendor platforms. The team will then test feasibility to show associations between echocardiographic parameters and timing to valve surgery. Once the initial project is complete, the methods and data capture techniques will be rolled out across centres throughout the UK to answer bigger questions with bigger data.
This project will not only provide important answers to the role and application of echocardiography but will also be a fantastic resource for BSE members:
- It will provide a unique dataset for expressions of interest from individuals/departments to access the data for educational projects or continual professional development, including the capacity to facilitate projects for healthcare scientists seeking equivalence at specialist and higher specialist levels
- The findings will result in key publications that will be disseminated through Echo Research and Practice and inform practice guideline documents that are utilised in routine clinical practice via BSE members
- It will support departments through integration of findings into BSE/NICE guidelines for echocardiographic service delivery and practice
We are very excited by this project and looking forward to being part of this fantastic research endeavour.
Dr Maria Paton, Chair of the Research and Audit Committee, said "This is an incredible opportunity for the BSE to lead primary research and drive contemporary evidence-based practice. It’s really an exciting time."
To find out more about the NED-UK study, email Professor David Oxborough at [email protected].