Using health records to reduce asthma disparities
Precision Approaches to Reduce Asthma Disparities with Electronic Health Record Data
This project uses electronic health records plus neighborhood and environmental data to find groups of adults with asthma who could benefit from more personalized care.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Pennsylvania NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Philadelphia, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11173861 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
If you have asthma, researchers will use information from electronic health records and linked neighborhood, social, and environmental data to look for patterns in who has worse asthma outcomes. They will build and test computer tools that can read doctors' notes and extract useful details from messy health records. The team will map where high-risk patients live and group people who share clinical and exposure features to suggest targeted care approaches. The goal is to design tailored strategies that could prevent asthma flare-ups for people in different communities.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal candidates are adults with asthma whose electronic health records are in the participating health systems, especially those from diverse racial, socioeconomic, and geographic backgrounds.
Not a fit: Children, people whose records are not included in the participating EHR systems, or those without linked neighborhood data may not directly benefit from this project.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could help tailor asthma care to people’s social and environmental situations and reduce severe attacks and disparities.
How similar studies have performed: Prior work has used EHRs and NLP to identify asthma risk patterns, but using those tools specifically to design interventions that reduce disparities is still relatively new.
Where this research is happening
Philadelphia, United States
- University of Pennsylvania — Philadelphia, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Weissman, Gary — University of Pennsylvania
- Study coordinator: Weissman, Gary
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.