Dr David Gonzalez Chica

Comparing Patterns and Trajectories of Complex Multimorbidity Phenotypes, Trends and Endpoints (CoMPuTE) in the UK and Australia

Multimorbidity (having multiple diseases) is a growing problem in health and social care problem. Those suffering from multimorbidity have more significant healthcare needs, especially socioeconomically disadvantaged groups or those living in rural and remote areas. If we know more about what causes multimorbidity and how it develops, we will be able to develop practical strategies to deal with it and allocate funds fairly.

Nowadays, we can program computers to learn as they go along, to quickly and efficiently analyse large amounts of data. This project aims to use two methods of computer learning to analyse two sets of general practice de-identified healthcare records (one including 40% of individuals in the UK and another including 10% of people in Australia) to identify patterns in the grouping of different common chronic diseases (e.g. cancer, diabetes, arthritis, depression) and help us improve the delivery of healthcare to ensure equitable allocation of resources.