Our client’s challenge
Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a rare cardiovascular disease. Patients generally present with confounding symptoms that often result in a long and complex pathway to diagnosis. Many patients remain undiagnosed or take years to be correctly diagnosed before accessing appropriate treatment, often resulting in years of frustration. If treatment is significantly delayed it can potentially increase the risk of mortality.
In most cases, a general practitioner (GP) will refer a patient to a respiratory specialist, cardiologist or rheumatologist, depending on their symptoms. It is only once they reach this secondary level of care that patients undergo a specific diagnostic screening process. In the UK, if PAH is diagnosed, patients are referred to one of seven PAH Expert Centres for treatment.
To reduce the potential morbidity and mortality of PAH, our client wanted to better understand the varying levels of disease diagnosis across counties in the UK to identify where in the therapeutic journey patients were delayed from being diagnosed and accessing treatment. More specifically, they wanted to: (i) identify the level of underdiagnosis [by county]; (ii) understand the reasons for delayed diagnosis; (iii) understand drivers of underdiagnosis, at secondary care level and; (iv) highlight the potential for more accurate diagnosis at the primary care level. By identifying specific geographic areas, the client could focus their healthcare professional (HCP) education, disease awareness activities and patient/HCP support initiatives to improve diagnostic processes in areas of high need.
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Speak to Prospection today to learn more about giving your teams a 360-degree view of the patient journey so they can grow their impact in the fight against PAH and other rare diseases.
