Gendius initiates GP data study to develop enhanced risk prediction tools for diabetes

Gendius initiates GP data study to develop enhanced risk prediction tools for diabetes

UK medtech start-up Gendius has partnered with over 60 primary care practices on a data extraction study to develop enhanced risk prediction tools for people with diabetes. The study will analyse real-world data from thousands of people with diabetes in order to validate and improve more sophisticated risk prediction algorithms for predicting an individual’s risk of developing diabetes complications.

Dr Natasha H Patel, Consultant Diabetologist at Guys and St Thomas' NHS Foundation, comments, “This is a really exciting project which could really benefit people with diabetes, as well as their clinicians. In my clinic, we see patients who have the worst array of diabetes complications, and my hope is that one day our risk prediction and management tools will be good enough that we've identified these patients earlier enough to intervene and prevent them from developing these complications. This project from Gendius is an exciting step towards that future.”

Once validated, the new algorithms will be used to power Gendius’ diabetes management platform, Intellin. The key areas of risk prediction Gendius is aiming to improve are Chronic Kidney Disease and Cardiovascular Disease, both potentially fatal complications from diabetes.

Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure in the UK, and is responsible for about a third of people needing dialysis or a pre-emptive kidney transplant^[1]. Early diagnosis and identifying risk factors is key, as if Chronic Kidney Disease is recognised early, its progression can be effectively slowed down^[2].

Similarly, people with diabetes are at higher risk of developing Cardiovascular Disease. Even marginally raised blood sugar levels, as well as high blood pressure and cholesterol, can seriously affect cardiovascular health in people with diabetes, so good diabetes management is essential^[3].

Gendius CEO, Rory Cameron comments, “There is a clear need for a more personalised approach to highlighting diabetes risk factors. With this latest step forward with our risk prediction models, we hope that our platform will be able to give people with diabetes the power to better understand their individual risk, and allow them to take steps to reduce that risk.”

Gendius is aiming to recruit 100 primary care practices to the study, but has already hit its minimum sample size of 9,000 patient records. All the patient data shared for this study is fully anonymised and patients will have given their consent via their GP practice for their data to be shared.