1. They have published a study on the risk of diabetes in patients with sleep apnea. What have been the main conclusions?
The risk of developing diabetes in patients diagnosed with sleep apnea after five years is reduced by approximately 50% if they undergo surgery compared to if they are treated with CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure). Both therapies protect against the onset of diabetes, but surgery does so to a greater degree.
2. A characteristic of this study, about which an article has been published, is that it is based on Big Data after studying the medical records of 90 million patients. How did the idea come about? Because I understand that they are pioneers…
The Quirónsalud group started collaborating with the TriNetX Platform and asked us to learn how it works. This platform is coordinated through the Department of Biomedical Informatics of the Polytechnic University of Madrid with the engineer Gema Hernández at the head. We had a few sessions to learn how it works and the idea of carrying out the study arose following the indications of another friendly research group, from the Stanford School of Medicine, in the United States, who had carried out and published a project in a Q1 journal. similar last year. Our conclusions, fortunately, have been identical to yours. We are pioneers because until now the research methodology based on Big Data had not been used in our country in the field of Otorhinolaryngology.
3. Why did you choose to do the study on sleep apnea and diabetes as a topic?
Because sleep apnea and diabetes are increasingly prevalent diseases, they facilitate the appearance of many other very serious diseases and do not receive as much attention in the media.
4. What were the main complications you encountered when doing a study of this type?
The main complication is confounding factors. A previous strategy had to be made in order to control them. Likewise, we are always limited to the quality of the information collected by the database with which the study is carried out.
5. What does this method contribute to the traditional way of doing studies of this type?
The possibility of having 90 million patients and being able to see what happens to them after five years with quality medical records. Fundamentally, the sample size is the great advantage and the possibility of having clinical histories with homogeneous and reliable criteria.
6. Do you plan to do more research using Big Data or go deeper into it?
Yes, we are working on other research on the occurrence of cancer and sleep apnea and the protective effect that different therapies can have at their source.
7. In your opinion, in what other areas would it be useful to use Big Data?
Big Data is here to stay, but everything will depend on the precision with which medical information is collected. It is already used in other specialties such as Oncology, Genetics or Hematology, diagnostic procedures such as the identification of the microbiota or wet biopsy, as well as in Social and Economic Sciences.
8. Can you explain in a simple way what the TriNetX (TNX) global health research network is?
TriNetX is a research network that combines electronic medical record data from numerous healthcare institutions and health insurance claims. It is like a large bank with live data that requires significant technical, medical and computer skills to be profitable.
9. It has been a collaborative work between many institutions. Which is it?
The study was carried out under the direction of our Otolaryngology and Pulmonology services at the Quirónsalud Marbella and Campo de Gibraltar Hospitals, and received clinical advice from the Otolaryngology services of the Clínica Universidad de Navarra in Pamplona, the Doctor Peset Hospital in Valencia, the Virgen de Valme Hospital in Seville, the Sanitas de Fuenlabrada Hospital together with the Rey Juan Carlos I University, and lastly and fundamentally, the technical advice of the Department of Biomedical Informatics of the Polytechnic University of Madrid.
10. Do you use Big Data in your usual clinical practice?
No, but we are sure that in the future it will be incorporated very soon. As I have previously mentioned, procedures such as wet biopsy and the identification of the microbiota or the genetic polymorphisms of some hereditary diseases that depend on the information provided by genetic codes based on Big Data will be carried out in our clinics on a regular basis.
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