Horizon CDT PhD candidate Elizabeth Dolan has led a study that was published in Nature Communications this week.
Assessing the value of integrating national longitudinal shopping data into respiratory disease forecasting models explores the relationship between the purchase of over-the-counter drugs to treat respiratory illnesses and the recorded deaths from those ailments.
“Our research shows that using sales data, such as rising cough medicine purchases, significantly improves predictions of deaths from respiratory disease. This highlights the urgent need to make this practical data source more accessible for medical research.
“It could provide healthcare providers an invaluable tool to better manage services and plan more effectively, especially as we now have COVID-19 to cope with alongside the other causes of respiratory disease.”
You can read more about Lizzie’s article in the University of Nottingham Press Release
