Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Dec 12;32(1):e101446.
doi: 10.1136/bmjhci-2025-101446.

Core Mental Health Data Set (CMHDS) methods feasibility paper

Kathryn Mary Abel  1   2 , Auden Edwardes  1 , Heidi Tranter  3   2 , Paul Dark  4 , Robert D Sandler  5   6 , Philip A Kalra  4 , Ann John  7 , Martin Wildman  5   8 , Philip Bell  9 , Nawar Diar Bakerly  10   11 , Pauline Whelan  2   12
Affiliations

Core Mental Health Data Set (CMHDS) methods feasibility paper

Kathryn Mary Abel et al. BMJ Health Care Inform. .

Abstract

Objectives: Little research focuses on mechanisms underlying the well-recognised relationship between mental and physical health, or its potential to influence adherence and response to treatments. This short report summarises results of the National Institute for Health and Care Research-funded 'Core Mental Health Data Set (CMHDS)' study to embed a digital tool for routine collection of mental health data in physical health studies.

Methods: Four chief investigators of physical health trials were approached to embed the CMHDS into their study. Two trials, one for people receiving specialist cystic fibrosis (CF) care, and the established Salford Kidney Study (SKS) successfully managed to embed CMHDS.

Results: A combined 478 participants from both studies were invited to complete the CMHDS. Of those approached, 88% agreed to complete CMHDS; 44% completed it. In the SKS, people who completed CMHDS were significantly younger and had higher estimated glomerular filtration rates and were from least deprived areas. In the CF study, there was no significant difference in characteristics of participants who did or did not complete the tool.

Discussion: It was feasible, and researchers and participants considered it acceptable, to embed the CMHDS in physical health studies as part of routine data collection.

Conclusion: Future studies should embed the CMHDS routinely and encourage completion to minimise bias and optimise the added value of having mental health covariates or predictor variables in physical health studies.

Keywords: BMJ Health Informatics; Data Systems; Health Information Systems; Patient Involvement.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: PW is director and shareholder of CareLoop Health, a for-profit digital mental health company and Prism Life, a small research and consultancy company. Neither is involved in this research, nor do they pose conflicts. Declaring for transparency.

References

    1. Launders N, Kirsh L, Osborn DPJ, et al. The temporal relationship between severe mental illness diagnosis and chronic physical comorbidity: a UK primary care cohort study of disease burden over 10 years. Lancet Psychiatry. 2022;9:725–35. doi: 10.1016/S2215-0366(22)00225-5. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Sloan M, Wincup C, Harwood R, et al. Prevalence and identification of neuropsychiatric symptoms in systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases: an international mixed methods study. Rheumatology. 2024;63:1259–72. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/kead369. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. NIHR annual report 2022/23. 2024 https://www.nihr.ac.uk/nihr-annual-report-202223 Available.
    1. Higginson IJ, Carr AJ. Using quality of life measures in the clinical setting. BMJ. 2001;322:1297–300. doi: 10.1136/bmj.322.7297.1297. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. NIHR Funding; 2023. [21-May-2025]. The core mental health dataset.https://fundingawards.nihr.ac.uk/award/NIHR201104 Available. Accessed.

LinkOut - more resources