How the SCOT study works

People who are already being prescribed a Non-Steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drug (NSAID) on a long-term basis are being invited to take part in the SCOT study. The nurses in the SCOT team arrange to see potential participants at their GP’s surgery to explain the study in more detail. The nurses check that there are no other reasons why someone might not be able to take part in the study.

People who are suitable and willing to enter the study are allocated at random to one of two groups. One group will start to take celecoxib longterm and the other group will continue with their usual NSAID. The dose of the celecoxib can be adjusted by the GP so that it continues to give good pain relief. All of the drugs continue to be prescribed in the usual way from the GP during the course of the study.

If we then observe what happens to people over time we can eventually see if the two groups have different experiences of side effects. This may take quite a while; we expect the SCOT study to take at least 2 years. Additionally we will look at what other medicines people have been prescribed over this time to see if any other patterns show up.

In most parts of the world it would not be possible to do the SCOT study in its present form. This is because Scotland is ahead of most other countries (including much of the developed world) in its sophisticated system for collecting and analysing health-related information. Each person has a unique CHI number.

The CHI number is attached to prescription data as well as to the information collected by hospitals on the illnesses of the patients who receive treatment there. People who take part in SCOT agree to the research team having access to their prescribing information. This makes it possible to work out the relative safety of these drugs over the course of the study.

All such information is handled in strict confidence. The identity of individual participants is removed before the data is analysed.