A consultant at Taunton’s Musgrove Park Hospital has welcomed a study that can help identify people at greater risk of liver disease, writes Phil Hill.
A total of 996 patients signed up in under a year to the LiveWell initiative delivered in partnership with Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, which supported clinical oversight and research delivery.
The patients were recruited via Somerset-based Predictive Health Intelligence (PHI) and Sano Genetics, with additional support from Tawazun Health and Innovate UK.
LiveWell uses hepatoSIGHT, PHI’s case-finding software, to identify and stratify people at higher risk of metabolic liver disease using historical blood test data already held by the NHS.
Potentially eligible participants were invited through targeted mailings, then further screened and enrolled via the Sano Genetics platform.
Dr Tim Jobson, PHI medical director and consultant gastroenterologist at Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, said: “One of the central challenges in liver disease is identifying the right patients early enough to intervene meaningfully.
“Many people have minor abnormalities in their blood tests, but determining who is genuinely at risk, before it is too late, has traditionally been difficult.
“By combining longitudinal laboratory data with genetic risk, we can stratify patients far more intelligently.
“What LiveWell demonstrates is that this approach not only has clinical value, but also creates a scalable way to identify and recruit the right participants for research.”
The research helps discover individuals at risk of metabolic liver disease using patterns in historical blood tests combined with genetic factors.
Many people show mild abnormalities in blood tests, but it is not always clear who requires follow-up or intervention.
By using longitudinal blood test data and genetics, LiveWell aims to help researchers better identify the right individuals earlier, supporting more targeted assessment and long-term follow-up.
The LiveWell study does not involve new medicines or experimental treatments.
Participants are invited to provide a saliva sample for genetic testing and attend a non-invasive ultrasound-based FibroScan assessment to evaluate their liver health risk.
Participant follow-up is ongoing, with genotyping and FibroScan assessments continuing, and an initial study read-out is expected later this year.
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