Can the risk of disease be predicted? Pfizer’s and Atostek’s research studies the potential of Kanta data for the automated identification of disease risks
Pfizer is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. They wanted to find out if it was possible to predict the risks of disease using Finnish national health record system, Kanta. Atostek studied the possibilities of secondary use of Kanta data in risk calculation.
Streptococcus pneumoniae, or pneumococcus, poses a significant health risk, especially to babies, the elderly, and people with underlying health conditions. For example, in Finland, pneumococcal vaccination is included in the national vaccination program, and the vaccine is offered to young children and only a few adults who are part of the risk group. Adults or those in risk groups have not been vaccinated comprehensively enough.
In the study funded by Pfizer, Atostek studied whether the risk of contracting a disease caused by pneumococcus could be predicted by utilizing Kanta data. Kanta provides a comprehensive, nationwide patient database, which can be used for monitoring individual risk factors. The study analyzed the health information of 96,200 Finnish adults and identified the individual risk category for each person.
Secondary use of Kanta data
Secondary use allows for the exploitation of pseudonymized social and health care data for research purposes. Atostek has years of experience in the management of social and health care data and the use of Kanta data.
In Finland, all healthcare service providers record health information in Kanta, which creates a unique RWD (Real World Data) pool covering the entire population. Atostek developed a risk group categorization method based on the risk group definitions of pneumococcal disease by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL). With these definitions, a person could be classified into one of four different risk categories. The classification was used as the research method.
The research results are promising for the future. The results show a concrete application for the automatic analysis of a person’s health data in several use cases. Automatic analysis of health information, for instance, brings important indications to the attention of healthcare professionals during an appointment without the professional having to go through the person’s entire treatment history and identify significant factors from the records.
“The diagnosis-based risk categorization developed with Kanta data enables direct use of the method, for example, at a healthcare professional’s appointment,” says Juho Leppämäki, Atostek’s Quality Manager.
Background of the study:
- Pfizer’s and Atostek’s research is a continuation of Atostek’s Jasmine research project (Joyful ApparationS of Medical INtelligencE), which aims to study the practical utilization of healthcare information from the perspective of predicting medical risks.
- Atostek’s Senior Software Developer Viljami Männikkö is working with a doctoral thesis on the research topic.
Read more about the secondary use of health data!
Pfizer is one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies and manufacturers of original medicines and vaccines. Researching and developing new drugs and vaccines are at the core of our business. We aim to create better health worldwide with our new pharmaceutical and vaccine innovations. – Breakthroughs that change patients’ lives.
Interested in secondary use of health data? Reach out to an expert at Atostek!
Juho Leppämäki
Secondary Use of Health Data & Medical Devices
juho.leppamaki@atostek.com
+358 45 113 8883
