Intelligence ( AI ) to improve a tool currently used in emergency departments across Scotland to identify individuals at high risk of needing urgent hospital care within the next year .

Emergency hospital admissions routinely account for around half of all hospital stays in Scotland , placing tremendous strain on the healthcare system . Researchers from the Universities of Edinburgh and Durham , supported by Health Data

Research UK ( HDR UK ) and The Alan Turing Institute , worked with Public Health Scotland to develop an improved tool to help manage this growing issue .

Published in npj Digital Medicine , the team demonstrates that SPARRAv4 – Scottish Patients At Risk of Readmission and Admission version 4 – is better able to identify emergency admissions than the previous version . SPARRAv4 was also found to be better at gauging individual patients ’ level of risk of needing urgent hospital care .

The AI-powered update will help healthcare providers in Scotland plan more effectively for emergency cases and manage healthcare resources more efficiently . Dr Catalina Vallejos , Reader at the University of Edinburgh ’ s MRC Human Genetics Unit , said : “ In an era where healthcare systems are under high stress , we hope that the availability of robust and reproducible risk prediction scores such as SPARRAv4 will contribute to the design of proactive interventions that reduce pressures on healthcare systems and improve healthy life expectancy .”

12 countries in Latin America and Europe has revealed that half of those polled have either limited or no awareness of the important role human papillomavirus ( HPV ) plays in cervical cancer .

HPV is a common virus transmitted through sexual contact and is the primary cause of cervical cancer , responsible for over 99 % of cases . Every year , more than 600,000 women worldwide are diagnosed with cervical cancer and over 340,000 die with nine in every ten of these women living in low-resource countries . However , 93 % of cervical cancers could be prevented entirely through appropriate screening and HPV vaccination .

The research also demonstrated that with screening rates varying between regions , significant barriers continue to exist that are preventing women from seeking testing . Respondents in all countries , including both developed and developing nations , reported that concerns about the testing procedure being painful were common ( up to 63 % in some countries ), as well as a sense of discomfort about discussing their sexual history or sexuality with a healthcare provider ( up to 57 % in some countries ).

“ Thousands of women are needlessly dying from cervical cancer every year . This survey highlights some of the most important barriers to screening , as well as the opportunities we have to prevent disease and improve women ’ s health ,” said Joanna Sickler , Vice-President of Health Policy and External Affairs at Roche Diagnostics . “ With many women reporting being open to new screening tools like self-collection , it has never been more important that communities , health systems , governments and innovators come together to seize this opportunity , and provide the early detection and treatment needed to avoid so many preventable deaths .”

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