Box 1.

Potential uses of electronic health records in cardiology research and clinical practice throughout the patient journey

Aetiology
  • Disease-specific, eg risk factors for development of AF25

  • Across diseases, eg alcohol consumption and CVDs26

Diagnosis
  • Studying variations in definition, eg aortic dissection during pregnancy20

  • Development of diagnostic tools, eg familial hypercholesterolaemia27

Screening
  • CVD, eg AF28

  • CVD in non-cardiovascular disease, eg late CVD in cancer survivors29

Public health
  • Incidence and prevalence, eg AF30

  • Trends in management, eg prescription of novel anticoagulants in AF31

  • Resource utilisation, eg cost of AF32 or HF33 management

  • International comparisons, eg NSTEMI management33

  • Risk of CVD with non-cardiovascular diseases and drugs, eg CVD events with clarithromycin34

Prognosis
  • Outcomes, eg HF35

  • Derivation and validation of risk prediction tools, eg QRISK217 and 10-year risk of HF36

Intervention
  • Comparative effectiveness, eg statins in different chronic diseases37

  • Cost effectiveness, eg evolocumab38

  • Trials, eg automated software to improve anticoagulation uptake in AF39

  • Clinical decision support, eg dual antiplatelet therapy40

  • AF = atrial fibrillation; CVD = cardiovascular disease; HF = heart failure; NSTEMI = non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction