133844Hemogad - ELISA feasibility study to improve elective careClosedFeasibility StudiesISCF"Hereditary Haemochromatosis (HH) is a genetic condition that is prevalent in people of Northern European, particularly of Celtic, descent. In Eire, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales - population 15 million - 1 in 80 have HH; 190,000 sufferers. The world-wide 'average' is 1 in 200 people have HH. Using 1 in 200 for England (artificially low, as many English nationals have some Celtic ancestry), then UK and Eire have a **minimum** of 465,000 HH patients. The WHO state 1 in 5,000 are undiagnosed, so the number of UK sufferers is likely to be in excess of 600,000\. HH is characterised by iron overload which the body stores in the major organs. Once diagnosed, treatment is simple and effective requiring the patient to have blood taken on a regular basis - the frequency being dependent upon the severity of iron overload. Untreated, HH causes irreversible organ damage and results in chronic secondary conditions including, but not limited to: * Cirrhosis * Diabetes * Heart arrhythmia * Arthritis * High blood pressure HH has also been linked to Alzheimer's (Florey Institute in Melbourne and the CSIRO), due to elevated iron levels in the brain. Symptoms of HH include; * Fatigue * Joint pain * Skin discolouration * Loss of sex drive * High blood pressure This makes diagnosis difficult, as the symptoms displayed can be similar to other conditions, including anaemia. Diagnosis often comes after a patient has developed one, or more, of the totally avoidable chronic secondary conditions. This results in a negative impact on quality of life and a lifetime taking drugs to control secondary conditions - at great annual cost, per patient, to both the NHS and the patient. Clinical diagnosis requires a specific blood test, for Serum Ferritin (SF) - a 'general' blood test (Full Blood Count, FBC) will not determine a patient's iron levels. This then needs to be confirmed by genetic screening; this is expensive and time consuming for an overstretched and under-funded NHS. HemoGAD will carry out a feasibility study around a proof-of-concept to improve diagnosis and ongoing measurement / management of iron overload, and iron deficiency. The aim is to develop a test that is: * Faster than current methods * Equally accurate * Can be carried out at home * Has a substantially lower cost The UK Haemochromatosis Society (http://haemochromatosis.org.uk) are publishing the results of a member survey on 1st November 2018, unfortunately the data was not available for us to include in our application."