Researchers at Imperial College London are launching a major study to investigate whether shopping behaviours shown in loyalty card data from volunteers can reveal early warning signs of cancer.
By analysing data on purchases of over-the-counter (OTC) medications the team aims to identify shopping patterns linked to both patients with a formal diagnosis of cancer and healthy controls. They hope that this data, collected though the loyalty card data of consenting participants who shop in Boots and Tesco, will reveal subtle trends which could be used to flag the early signs of disease and ultimately lead to much earlier medical interventions for a variety of cancers. They hope that these data will reveal subtle trends which could be used to flag the early signs of disease and ultimately lead to much earlier medical interventions for a variety of cancers.
The CLOCS-2 study (Cancer Loyalty Card Study 2) will recruit almost 3,000 volunteers across the UK, making it one of the largest studies of its kind. The initiative builds on previous work which successfully demonstrated that changes in the purchase of OTC pain and indigestion medications could signal early signs of ovarian cancer.
The new study will expand its scope to investigate ten specific cancer types: bladder, colorectal (bowel), endometrial, liver, oesophageal, ovarian, pancreatic, stomach (gastric), uterine, and vulval. Many of these conditions can often present with mild or non-specific symptoms, such as bloating, indigestion, or fatigue, which often lead people to self-medicate with over-the-counter products before seeking medical advice.
Picking up on such relatively minor changes to people's shopping habits could help nudge them towards speaking to their doctor for further investigation, potentially catching and treating more cancers earlier.
"This study ultimately has the potential to revolutionise how we can use everyday data to understand and improve people's health," said Professor James Flanagan from Imperial's Department of Surgery and Cancer, who is leading the study. "We're excited to build on the success of our first CLOCS study and to see if looking back at people's shopping history can give us clues to the way different conditions start to appear."
The research team will analyse the shopping history of 1,450 cancer patients and 1,450 healthy participants who have consented to take part and been recruited via GPs and the "Be Part of Research" platform, run by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The goal is to define a purchasing 'threshold' that differentiates the habits of healthy individuals from those with cancer, as well as to identify what products are purchased for each cancer type.
Finding out this information will be critical in identifying an ideal time and method for encouraging those with suspected cancer to seek earlier medical help.
Professor Flanagan noted that while some of the products purchased might be expected, such as laxative purchases for colorectal cancer, that is not always the case. "In our previous study, indigestion medicines turned out to be linked to shoppers with ovarian cancer. So part of this study is very much about finding out which products are in play," he explained.
If CLOCS-2 is successful, the researchers hope to launch an intervention study to monitor the purchasing data from consenting healthy individuals for specific 'triggers'. This could eventually pave the way for a potential digital alert system that prompts shoppers to seek medical advice based on their specific purchasing behaviour.
The CLOCS-2 study is funded by Cancer Research UK and is a collaborative effort between Imperial College London and collaborators from the University of Birmingham, the University of Nottingham and the University of Lancashire, made possible by the support of Boots and Tesco.
Dr Talisia Quallo, Head of Prevention and Early Detection Research at Cancer Research UK, said: "The first Cancer Loyalty Card study, funded by Cancer Research UK, showed differences in purchasing behaviour of pain and indigestion medication between women with and without ovarian cancer, up to eight months before a formal diagnosis. In the future, shifts in purchasing behaviour could act as an early warning system, prompting people to seek medical care more quickly for emerging symptoms."
"The CLOCS-2 study wants to find out if loyalty cards, which we carry around every day, could be used for earlier detection of other cancers. Changes in what we shop for, and when those changes start to happen, could become a powerful tool to find cancer at an earlier stage, when treatment is much more likely to be successful."
Marc Donovan OBE, Healthcare Development Director, Boots, said: "CLOCS-2 is an inspiring example of what's possible when retailers, researchers and charities work together to connect different data points. Over a quarter of the UK population has a Boots Advantage Card, and this study represents the potential for everyday shopping data, when used responsibly, to be a powerful tool in helping customers spot and act on early healthcare warning signs."
Oonagh Turnbull, Head of Health and Sustainable Diets Campaigns at Tesco, said: "We are pleased to be working with Imperial College London and Cancer Research UK once again on this important research. We hope that with the help of our customers across the UK taking part and volunteering to share their Tesco Clubcard data, more lives can be saved by detecting certain cancers early, building on the success of the first Cancer Loyalty Card study."
The study is led by Imperial College London and funded by Cancer Research UK (CRUK) through an Early Detection Primer Award and Project Grant.
The work was also supported by the NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre, a translational research partnership between Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Imperial College London.
