Publications by authors named "Adrian Edwards"

Objectives: Take home naloxone kits can reduce mortality, but we know little about how they are perceived by people with lived experience of opioid use. Provision of naloxone in the community has been shown to significantly reduce mortality from opioid overdose. Currently, this is predominantly through drug treatment support services but expanding provision through other services might be effective in increasing kit take-up and mortality reduction.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - The Wales COVID-19 Evidence Centre (WCEC) was created from 2021-23 to provide timely research evidence to inform health and social care decisions amidst the fast-paced challenges of the pandemic.
  • - The WCEC employed flexible knowledge mobilisation methods, including stakeholder co-production and public engagement, to ensure that relevant findings reached the right decision-makers effectively.
  • - Results showed that WCEC's processes successfully facilitated the use of rapid evidence reviews, although realizing public benefits from this work will require additional time and resources.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the perspectives of international experts and Danish citizens on relevant knowledge about population-based breast, colorectal and cervical cancer screening.

Methods: This was a qualitative interview study with focus group interviews with experts and Danish citizens eligible for breast, colorectal and/or cervical cancer screening. Data were collected using semi-structured interview guides, audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Antithrombotic therapy (ATT) is commonly used in patients with terminal cancer, despite unclear benefits and risks near the end of life.
  • A study analyzed adherence to ATT and the risks of bleeding, venous thromboembolism (VTE), and arterial thromboembolism (ATE) in terminally ill cancer patients using data from Denmark.
  • Results showed that most patients continued ATT until death, with a notable decrease in VTE risk but an increase in the risks of ATE and major bleeding.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Early assessment of patients with suspected transient ischaemic attack (TIA) is crucial to provision of effective care, including initiation of preventive therapies and identification of stroke mimics. Many patients with TIA present to emergency medical services (EMS) but may not require hospitalisation. Paramedics could identify and refer patients with low-risk TIA, without conveyance to the ED.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The way information about potential benefits and harms of trial is presented within participant information leaflets (PILs) varies widely and may cause unnecessary 'nocebo' effects. The Medical Research Council (MRC) funded a project that developed seven principles to reduce this variation. However, guidance has not been produced to facilitate the implementation of the principles.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Opioids kill more people than any other class of drug. Naloxone is an opioid antagonist which can be distributed in kits for peer administration. We assessed the feasibility of implementing a Take-home Naloxone (THN) intervention in emergency settings, as part of designing a definitive randomised controlled trial (RCT).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: The impact of multiple health conditions on bowel cancer screening is currently unknown. We explored the impact of multiple health conditions on bowel cancer screening perceptions, experience and clinical management decisions following a positive stool test.

Methods: Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted remotely with Bowel Screening Wales staff (n = 16) stratified by regional location and role and with screening participants (n = 19) stratified by age, gender and comorbidity.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Despite the considerable morbidity caused by recurrent urinary tract infections (rUTIs), and the wider personal and public health implications from frequent antibiotic use, few studies adequately describe the prevalence and characteristics of women with rUTIs or those who use prophylactic antibiotics.

Aim: To describe the prevalence, characteristics, and urine profiles of women with rUTIs with and without prophylactic antibiotic use in Welsh primary care.

Design And Setting: This was a retrospective cross-sectional study in Welsh general practice using the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) Databank.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Emergency healthcare services are under intense pressure to meet increasing patient demands. Many patients presenting to emergency departments could be managed by general practitioners in general practitioner-emergency department service models.

Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness, safety, patient experience and system implications of the different general practitioner-emergency department models.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Addressing increasing patient demand and improving ED patient flow is a key ambition for NHS England. Delivering general practitioner (GP) services in or alongside EDs (GP-ED) was advocated in 2017 for this reason, supported by £100 million (US$130 million) of capital funding. Current evidence shows no overall improvement in addressing demand and reducing waiting times, but considerable variation in how different service models operate, subject to local context.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Cost-of-living crises are damaging to population mental health and require a public health response. It is important to assess whether public health interventions are effective. We aimed to identify population-level methods and measures and the appropriateness of the measures for vulnerable populations.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: To assess the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on people experiencing incarceration (PEI), focusing particularly on clinical outcomes compared with the general population.

Design: Systematic review with narrative synthesis in accordance with the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination's good practice guidelines.

Data Sources: Medline, Social Policy and Practice, Criminology Connection, ASSIA, EMBASE, SCOPUS, Web Of Science, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, Cochrane COVID-19 reviews, COVID-19 Evidence Reviews and L*OVE COVID-19 Evidence databases were searched up to 21 October 2022.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

People experiencing incarceration (PEI) have poorer COVID-19 clinical outcomes compared with the general population. Many interventions were implemented in incarceration facilities to mitigate the burden of COVID-19. This systematic review seeks to analyze the effectiveness of these interventions.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objectives: Relevant knowledge is essential for informed choices about (non)participation in population-based cancer screening. Many instruments have been proposed to assess residents' knowledge about cancer screening programmes but their measurement properties are unknown. This systematic review aims to identify and critically evaluate the measurement properties of instruments to measure knowledge about cancer screening in individuals eligible for population-based screening.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

To examine the effectiveness of community diagnostic centres as a potential solution to increasing capacity and reducing pressure on secondary care in the UK. A comprehensive search for relevant primary studies was conducted in a range of electronic sources in August 2022. Screening and critical appraisal were undertaken by two independent reviewers.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: This study estimated the prevalence of evidence-based care received by a population-based sample of Australian residents in long-term care (LTC) aged ≥ 65 years in 2021, measured by adherence to clinical practice guideline (CPG) recommendations.

Methods: Sixteen conditions/processes of care amendable to estimating evidence-based care at a population level were identified from prevalence data and CPGs. Candidate recommendations (n = 5609) were extracted from 139 CPGs which were converted to indicators.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objectives: People experiencing homelessness also experience poorer clinical outcomes of COVID-19. Various interventions were implemented for people experiencing homelessness in 2020-2022 in different countries in response to varied national guidance to limit the impact of COVID-19. It is important to understand what was done and the effectiveness of such interventions.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The EVITE Immunity study investigated the effects of shielding Clinically Extremely Vulnerable (CEV) people during the COVID-19 pandemic on health outcomes and healthcare costs in Wales, United Kingdom, to help prepare for future pandemics. Shielding was intended to protect those at highest risk of serious harm from COVID-19. We report the cost of implementing shielding in Wales.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Management of an endoscopically resected malignant colorectal polyps can be challenging due to the risk of residual tumour and lymphatic spread. International studies have shown, that of those choosing surgical management instead of surveillance strategy, there are between 54% and 82% of bowel resections without evidence of residual tumour or lymphatic spread. As surgical management entails risks of complications and surveillance strategy entails risks of residual tumour or recurrence, a clinical dilemma arises when choosing a management strategy.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Vaccination has proven to be effective at preventing severe outcomes of COVID-19 infection, and uptake in the population has been high in Wales. However, there is a risk that high-level vaccination coverage statistics may mask hidden inequalities in under-served populations, many of whom may be at increased risk of severe outcomes of COVID-19 infection. The study population included 1,436,229 individuals aged 18 years and over, alive and residence in Wales as at 31st July 2022, and excluded immunosuppressed or care home residents.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in major disruption to healthcare delivery worldwide causing medical services to adapt their standard practices. Learning how these adaptations result in unintended patient harm is essential to mitigate against future incidents. Incident reporting and learning system data can be used to identify areas to improve patient safety.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: This review is an update of a rapid review undertaken in 2020 to identify relevant, feasible and effective communication approaches to promote acceptance, uptake and adherence to physical distancing measures for COVID-19 prevention and control. The rapid review was published when little was known about transmission, treatment or future vaccination, and when physical distancing measures (isolation, quarantine, contact tracing, crowd avoidance, work and school measures) were the cornerstone of public health responses globally. This updated review includes more recent evidence to extend what we know about effective pandemic public health communication.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF