EMU Data

The EMU Data Research Group aims to improve understanding of how people engage with prescribed treatment regimens, self-management practices, and healthcare services,  using routinely collected electronic health records and other real-world data sources. The group focuses primarily on medication adherence and treatment engagement in respiratory conditions, including asthma and COVID-19, with the goal of generating evidence that can inform clinical practice, service delivery, and policy. 

The group’s objectives are to develop innovative methods for measuring medication adherence and healthcare engagement using linked routine data; identify factors associated with variation in treatment use and outcomes; and evaluate how patterns of engagement with healthcare services influence patient outcomes over time. Alongside respiratory research, EMU Data Lab will explore broader questions of health service engagement, including participation in annual asthma reviews, preventative care, and public health activities such as blood donation. 

The rationale for the group is grounded in the growing availability of large-scale electronic health records, prescribing datasets, and linked administrative data, which provide new opportunities to study real-world behaviour at population scale. Traditional clinical studies often fail to capture how treatments are used in everyday practice. EMU Data Lab seeks to bridge this gap by producing robust, patient-centred evidence on medicines use, adherence, and engagement across routine care settings.