Which conditions are caused by infection? Though it may seem like an amateur concern in the era of advanced microscopy, some culprits evade conventional methods of detection. Large medical databases hold the power to unlock answers.
A recent study from Sweden and Denmark meticulously traced the lives and medical histories of nearly one million men and women in those countries who had received blood transfusions over nearly five decades. Some of these patients later experienced brain bleeds. The inescapable question: Could a virus found in some donor blood have caused the hemorrhages?
Traditionally, brain bleeds have been thought to strike at random. But the new study, published in September in JAMA points toward an infection that causes or, at the very least, is linked to the condition. The researchers used a large databank to make the discovery.
"As health data becomes more available and easier to analyze, we'll see all kinds of cases like this," said Jingcheng Zhao, MD, of the Clinical Epidemiology Division of Sweden's Karolinska Institutet, in Solna, and lead author of the study.
Scientists say the field of medical research is on the cusp of a revolution as immense health databases become guide discovery and improve clinical care.
