Background: There is a need to understand the preventable burden of alcohol-related liver disease (ARLD) and to improve the identification of individuals at high risk. We aimed to establish reliable and stratified epidemiological data to understand the burden of ARLD and the inequalities in this burden related to ethnicity, socioeconomic factors, and region in the UK.
Methods: Data were extracted from Clinical Practice Research Datalink Aurum, a primary care database that includes 20% of UK general practices.
Introduction: Gambling is now widely acknowledged to be a major public health (PH) issue. The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities conservatively estimated that gambling harm is associated with an annual cost of £1.05-£1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP) is a rare genetic neurological disorder that causes progressive spasticity and weakness in the lower limbs. This study aims to describe the prevalence and incidence of HSP and examine common mental health outcomes (depression and anxiety) in HSP patients in England and Northern Ireland.
Methods: This retrospective cohort study used CPRD Aurum primary care data from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2021.
Objective: To examine the mental ill health burden associated with allergic and atopic disorders, in a UK primary care cohort.
Design: Population-based retrospective open cohort study.
Setting: United Kingdom.
BMJ Open
May 2025
Introduction: Haematological cancers are common in the UK, with a variety of morphologies. Stem cell transplants and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies provide significant options for hard to treat haematological cancers, although with difficult to predict outcomes. Research into the determinates of treatment efficacy, and access to treatments, is key to ensuring equal benefit across patients and patient safety.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMatern Child Nutr
May 2025
Rates of breastfeeding remain low in the UK, with variations between population groups. Peer support and community interventions are intended to increase breastfeeding, but there is limited understanding if they cause inequities in participants' experiences. We conducted a systematic review synthesising qualitative evidence from the UK to understand: (1) what social characteristics are relevant to participants' experiences of interventions? and (2) how are participants' experiences influenced by different social characteristics? The scope of the review was informed through stakeholder consultation with women (n = 7) and peer supporters (n = 6).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Measuring sexual violence against children (SVAC) is vital to prevention and advocacy efforts, yet existing prevalence studies present estimates for few countries. Here we estimate the prevalence of SVAC for 204 countries by age and sex, from 1990 to 2023, and also report the age at which young survivors of lifetime sexual violence first experienced sexual violence.
Methods: We reviewed publicly available repositories for data on the prevalence of SVAC.
The health toll of child maltreatment or violence against children (VAC) has not yet been comprehensively evaluated. Here, in our systematic review and meta-analyses, we focused on the health impacts of physical violence, psychological violence and neglect during childhood. Utilizing the Burden of Proof methodology, which generates conservative measures of association while accounting for heterogeneity between input studies, we evaluated 35 associations between VAC and adverse health outcomes, identifying 27 statistically significant links.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe health impacts of exposure to physical, sexual or psychological gender-based violence (GBV) against men and women are substantial yet not well delineated. We systematically reviewed and meta-analysed 40 studies to evaluate the associations between GBV (including but not limited to intimate partner violence) and eight health outcomes: sexually transmitted infections excluding HIV, maternal abortion and miscarriage, HIV/AIDS, major depressive disorder, anxiety disorders, drug use disorders, alcohol use disorders and self-harm. Using the Burden of Proof methods, we generated conservative metrics of association-including star ratings from one to five-reflecting both effect size and evidence strength.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Women experiencing co-occurring forms of intimate partner violence (IPV; ie, physical, sexual, and/or psychological) often face more severe psychological and health consequences than those experiencing a single form. However, research on IPV co-occurrence in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) remains limited. This study examines the prevalence of IPV co-occurrence in LMICs and its education-based inequalities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFData on the impact of ethnic and socioeconomic factors on Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy (access and outcomes are limited, but key to understand whether results from the registration trials are generalizable to real-world patient populations. Here, we analysed ethnicity, socioeconomic deprivation and referral patterns in a cohort of 314 large B-cell lymphoma patients approved for third-line CD19 CAR-T across three large UK CAR-T centres. Patients from deprived areas had a lower infusion rate compared to low deprivation areas (73% vs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: As a global public health issue, childhood maltreatment is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. We aimed to investigate the association between childhood maltreatment and immune-mediated inflammatory disorders (IMIDs).
Methods: We conducted a retrospective matched open cohort study using a UK primary care database between January 1, 1995 and January 31, 2021.
The QRISK cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk assessment model is not currently optimized for patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM). We aim to identify if the abundantly available repeatedly measured data for patients with T2D improves the predictive capability of QRISK to support the decision-making process regarding CVD prevention in patients with T2DM. We identified patients with T2DM aged 25 to 85, not on statin treatment and without pre-existing CVD from the IQVIA Medical Research Data United Kingdom primary care database and then followed them up until the first diagnosis of CVD, ischemic heart disease, or stroke/transient ischemic attack.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEClinicalMedicine
October 2024
Background: The use of Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS) is increasing throughout healthcare and may be able to improve safety and outcomes in maternity care, but maternity care has key differences to other disciplines that complicate the use of CDSS. We aimed to identify evaluated CDSS and synthesise evidence of their impact on maternity care.
Methods: We conducted a systematic review for articles published before 24th May 2024 that described i) CDSS that ii) investigated the impact of their use iii) in maternity settings.
Motivation: Data is increasingly used for improvement and research in public health, especially administrative data such as that collected in electronic health records. Patients enter and exit these typically open-cohort datasets non-uniformly; this can render simple questions about incidence and prevalence time-consuming and with unnecessary variation between analyses. We therefore developed methods to automate analysis of incidence and prevalence in open cohort datasets, to improve transparency, productivity and reproducibility of analyses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe QRISK cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk assessment model is not currently optimized for patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). We aim to identify if the abundantly available repeatedly measured data for patients with T2D improves the predictive capability of QRISK to support the decision-making process regarding CVD prevention in patients with T2DM. We identified patients with T2DM aged 25 to 85, not on statin treatment and without pre-existing CVD from the IQVIA Medical Research Data United Kingdom primary care database and then followed them up until the first diagnosis of CVD, ischemic heart disease, or stroke/transient ischemic attack.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To assess whether prodromal symptoms of RA, as recorded in the Clinical Practice Research Datalink Aurum (CPRD) database of English primary care records, differ by ethnicity and socioeconomic status.
Methods: A cross-sectional study to determine the coding of common symptoms (≥0.1% in the sample) in the 24 months preceding RA diagnosis in CPRD Aurum, recorded between 1 January 2004 and 1 May 2022.
The health impacts of intimate partner violence against women and childhood sexual abuse are not fully understood. Here we conducted a systematic review by comprehensively searching seven electronic databases for literature on intimate partner violence-associated and childhood sexual abuse-associated health effects. Following the burden of proof methodology, we evaluated the evidence strength linking intimate partner violence and/or childhood sexual abuse to health outcomes supported by at least three studies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: This study aimed to investigate the level of guideline adherence for cardiometabolic health monitoring for patients prescribed antipsychotic medicines in UK primary care.
Methods: In this population-based retrospective open cohort study, we used dataset of patients from the IQVIA Medical Research Data (IMRD) database between 1st January 2003 to 31st December 2018. Clinical Read codes were used to identify a cohort of adult patients with a diagnosis of Schizophrenia and at least four prescriptions of an anti-psychotic medication within 12 months of diagnosis.
Introduction: Sex workers, who provide sexual or erotic acts in exchange for payment, often experience multiple disadvantages, including mental ill health and substance misuse. Mainstream healthcare services are generally not configured to facilitate engagement with sex workers and therefore, services are needed that are accessible to this population. The aim of this scoping review is to understand the evidence base for approaches, services and interventions that are aimed at addressing sex workers' health needs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLancet Public Health
August 2023
J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract
June 2023
To assess if ambient temperature-related effects on serum potassium levels impact clinical decision-making. This study is an ecological time series consisiting of 1 218 453 adult patients with at least one ACE inhibitor (ACEI) prescription who participate in a large UK primary care dataset.Descriptive statistics and a quasi-Poisson regression model using time series data at regular time intervals (monthly) were undertaken to examine the association between potassium measurements and ACEI/potassium supplement prescriptions.
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