Enabling research and clinical trials

Hosted study

We continued to provide data to support Public Health England’s HOSTED study, which is investigating patterns of household transmission of COVID-19. Findings published on 28 April 2021 reported that a first dose of both Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines reduce household transmission of COVID-19 by up to 50%.

Trusted Research Environments

We continued to provide Trusted Research Environments (TREs) to facilitate investigation of nationally prioritised COVID 19 research questions. A comparison of trends in GP diagnosed depression in adults in England during the pandemic with pre pandemic levels was published on 5 May 2021 by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and was based on analysis completed in their TRE.

We provided approval for the first group to use the ONS and NHS Digital COVID-19 Public Health Research Database. This new research asset was commissioned by Health Data Research UK and DHSC’s Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies (SAGE) and consists of a linked dataset, combining data from the 2011 census and health data (hospital episode statistics and primary care data), enabling approved researchers to analyse whether particular illnesses, conditions or societal circumstances increase likelihood of adverse outcomes from coronavirus. We have worked with ONS to establish data sharing and governance arrangements. The first approved application is from the University of Leicester and will investigate coronavirus outcomes by ethnicity.

PRINCIPLE

We continued to support recruitment and provide data to the PRINCIPLE trial, which aims to identify treatments for coronavirus that can be taken at home to prevent hospitalisation in patients aged over 65 or over 50 with underlying health conditions.

On 12 April 2021, the trial published findings that budesonide, an asthma drug, shortens recovery times in non hospitalised patients with coronavirus.