Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41401987›Full record

ArticleBMJ open2025

Opinions of the UK general public and stroke survivors in using artificial intelligence and 'opt-out' models of consent in medical research: a qualitative study.

William Heseltine-Carp, Mark Thurtson, Michael Allen, Daniel Browning, Megan Courtman, Aishwarya Kasabe, Emmanuel Ifeachor, Stephen Mullin

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Article in BMJ open, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

William Heseltine-CarpUniversity of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK w.heseltine-carp@nhs.net.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3119-9983
Mark ThurtsonUniversity of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK.
Michael AllenMedical School, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8746-9957
Daniel BrowningUniversity of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK.
Megan CourtmanUniversity of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK.
Aishwarya KasabeUniversity of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK.
Emmanuel IfeachorUniversity of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK.
Stephen MullinUniversity of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundArtificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare often requires large, confidential clinical datasets. However, a recent UK government survey revealed that 20-40% of the public remain sceptical of its use in health research due to concerns about data security, patient-practitioner communication and commercialisation of data. A greater understanding of public attitudes is therefore needed, particularly in the context of stroke research.In this article, we describe the patient and public involvement work undertaken for the AI-Based-Stroke-Risk-fActor-Classification-and-Treatment (ABSTRACT) project, which aims to train AI models to predict future stroke risk from the electronic health records of 1 18 736 patients.

aimsWe aimed to evaluate the opinions of stroke/transient ischaemic attack (TIA) patients, caregivers and members of the public on the following themes: (1) the acceptability of using AI to predict stroke from electronic health records, (2) obtaining these data using an opt-out model of consent and (3) allowing access to this dataset from members both within and outside of the routine clinical care team.

methodsA total of 83 participants were recruited via the National Health Service social media and by approaching hospital inpatients. Participants were first provided with background information on stroke, AI in medical research and ABSTRACT's proposed data handling protocol. A mixed methods approach was then used to explore each of the above themes using online survey, semistructured focus groups and one-to-one interviews.

resultsNearly all participants felt that it was appropriate to use patient data to train AI models to predict stroke risk and that it was acceptable to obtain these data via an opt-out model of consent. Almost all participants also agreed that data could be shared within and outside of the routine clinical care team, provided it was General Data Protection Regulation compliant and used for medical research only.

conclusionThe public and those with lived stroke/TIA experience appeared to support using deidentified medical datasets for AI-driven stroke risk prediction under an opt-out consent model. However, this is provided that the research conducted is transparent, for a clear medical purpose and adheres to strict data security measures.

Indexed as

Artificial IntelligenceBiomedical ResearchInformed ConsentPublic OpinionStrokeSurvivorsAdultAgedElectronic Health RecordsFemaleHumansIschemic Attack, TransientMaleMiddle AgedQualitative ResearchUnited KingdomArtificial IntelligenceMachine LearningStrokeStroke medicine

Identifiers

PMID41401987
PMCPMC12706208

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.