GoDARTS Governance is changing
Our GoDARTS governing body has realigned within the governance of the Scottish Health Research Register and Biobank, SHARE. All future applications for access to GoDARTS resources should be made via the SHARE website.
This change to our governance does not affect the privacy rights of patients who signed up to GoDARTS and does not constitute a change of use of personal data held by GoDARTS.
For more information on patients privacy rights and how GoDARTS uses personal data see the GoDARTS privacy statement
It is estimated that there are now over 422 million adults worldwide who have diabetes
Diabetes is a chronic, non-communicable disease characterised by elevated levels of blood sugar, which leads over time to serious damage to the heart, blood vessels, eyes, kidneys, and nerves
DARTS (Diabetes Audit and Research in Tayside Scotland) was started in 1996 as a joint collaboration between the University of Dundee’s Department of Medicine and Medicines Monitoring Unit (MEMO), three Tayside Health Care Trusts and a group of Tayside general practitioners (GPs) with a special interest in diabetes care.
Initially supported by the Scottish Home and Health Department, the Wellcome Trust, the Robertson Trust and Tenovus Tayside, the aim of the study was to identify all patients with diabetes within the wider Tayside region, through electronic record linkage, in order to improve health care over and above that which was practical through existing general practice lists alone.
In 1998, consenting patients within this electronic database were recruited to the Genetics of DARTS (
) study and invited to provide a blood sample for DNA extraction, for research purposes. At the same time, they were invited to provide phenotypic data (clinical and lifestyle factors), through questionnaires and clinical examination.
This valuable resource is intended to help identify the relative contribution of specific genetic and environmental factors that are associated with disease onset, progression and response to treatment.
is currently partnered with Dr Mohan’s Madras Diabetes Research Foundation and the 
initiative to investigate how genes influence susceptibility to type 2 diabetes (The 
Project – NIHR Global Health Research)
SHARE is a new NHS Research Scotland initiative created to establish a register of people interested in participating in health research and who agree to allow SHARE to use the coded data in their various NHS computer records to check whether they might be suitable for health research studies.
Precision Medicine in Diabetes Research. Patient specific treatment for complications of diabetes. Comparing & contrasting data from European & low and middle income countries. World expertise in health informatics.