Stroke Data Science Catalyst - British Heart Foundation

What is the ‘Stroke Data Science Catalyst’?

The Stroke Data Science Catalyst (a five-year partnership between the BHF Data Science Centre, HDR UK and the Stroke Association) will enable approved research teams to generate insights using data from a range of real-world settings, including hospitals, general practices and pharmacies, to improve our understanding of stroke risk factors and open the door to better prevention and treatment.

Professor William Whiteley is the Theme Lead for the Stroke Data Science Catalyst.

Why is the ‘Stroke Data Science Catalyst’ important for cardiovascular research?

Stroke occurs when the blood supply is cut off to areas of the brain. Risk factors for stroke overlap with those for heart conditions such as heart attack and angina, and include high blood pressure, cholesterol and obesity.

Stroke strikes every 5 minutes and there are over 1.2 million stroke survivors living in the UK, you can read more about the impacts of stroke at the Stroke Association website.

What are we doing?

The aims of the Stroke Data Science Catalyst are to; improve access to data for researchers and health policy analysts who study the causes, consequences, and care of stroke; involve people affected by stroke in the use of their data; develop leadership in stroke data science research.

We are:

Supporting and enabling researchers to better understand and use healthcare systems data. We held an introductory webinar to highlight the support available.

Introduction to the Stroke Data Science Catalyst

Supporting driver projects that speed up the use of health data in stroke research.

Two research teams have been awarded funding to support driver projects that will speed up the use of health data in stroke research. The funded projects include:

Impact of COVID-19 on stroke incidence, severity, aetiology, management and outcome in younger vs. older individuals in England, Dr Linxin Li, University of Oxford.

STROKE-IMPACT: What are the long-term consequences of stroke on the patient and to the NHS, and how does COVID-19 contribute to variation?

Areas of work

Find out more about our data-led research.

Whole Population Data

We aim to improve access to and use of high-quality, linked health datasets covering entire populations across the UK. 

Defining Disease

To drive large-scale, data-driven research, we’re working to develop and share reusable definitions of cardiovascular diseases in computable forms. These definitions enable researchers to interpret and use health data, leading to more accurate and reproducible studies. 

Data Enabled Clinical Trials

By integrating routinely collected NHS health data into clinical trials, we’re helping researchers recruit participants more effectively, reduce administrative burdens, and generate real-world evidence that can lead to quicker, more impactful advances in cardiovascular care.

Enhancing Cohorts

We’re working to accelerate health data research by making it easier, faster, and more secure to link data from clinical cohorts with routine health records. This approach will help researchers uncover new insights into disease causes, progression, and treatment, improving patient care and outcomes.

Imaging

Cardiovascular imaging research has the potential to transform disease diagnosis, risk assessment, and treatment. This area aims to improve access to imaging data linked to health-relevant datasets across the UK, enabling innovative research and improving patient outcomes.

Smartphones and Wearables

We’re working to unlock the potential of smartphone and wearable data to discover new ways to prevent, diagnose, and treat cardiovascular disease, by establishing secure access to and fair use of smartphone and wearable data linked to healthcare records. 

Diabetes Data Science Catalyst

This exciting partnership between the BHF Data Science Centre, Diabetes UK and HDR UK aims to develop improvements in our understanding of the link between cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.

Kidney Data Science Catalyst

This partnership between the BHF Data Science Centre, Kidney Research UK and HDR UK will enable researchers to securely access, link and analyse existing UK health data, speeding up the search for better kidney and cardiovascular disease prevention, treatments, and care.

See all of our work