High levels of healthcare utilization prior to diagnosis in idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension support the feasibility of an early diagnosis algorithm: the SPHInX project.

Idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (iPAH) is a rare progressive, life-shortening disease, usually diagnosed at an advanced stage. We hypothesize that patients with iPAH exhibit patterns of health-seeking behavior before diagnosis that will allow the development of earlier identification tools. The Sheffield Pulmonary Hypertension IndeX (SPHInX) project aims to develop a predictive algorithm based on routinely collected healthcare resource utilization (HCRU) data.