Aim: Extending faecal immunochemical tests for haemoglobin (FIT) to all primary care patients with symptoms suggestive of colorectal cancer (CRC) could identify people who are likely to benefit from colonoscopy and facilitate earlier treatment. The aim of this work was to investigate the diagnostic accuracy of FIT across different analysers at different thresholds, as a single test or in duplicate (dual FIT).
Method: This systematic review and meta-analysis searched 10 sources (December 2022).
Objectives: In public health, access to research literature is critical to informing decision-making and to identify knowledge gaps. However, identifying relevant research is not a straightforward task since public health interventions are often complex, can have positive and negative impacts on health inequalities and are applied in diverse and rapidly evolving settings. We developed a "living" database of public health research literature to facilitate access to this information using Natural Language Processing tools.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMC Public Health
December 2024
Background: Poor social connectedness has been identified as a risk factor for poor mental health but there is a lack of standardisation in how it is measured. This systematic review aimed to identify suitable measures of social connectedness for use in UK adult general populations.
Methods: Searches were undertaken in two stages to identify: (1) measures of social connectedness from review articles and grey literature and (2) studies reporting on the psychometric properties of the identified measures.
Objectives: Health inequities are unjust and avoidable differences in health outcomes across populations and between population groups. Though these arise predominantly from social determinants of health, healthcare is estimated to contribute around 20 % and primary healthcare reduces inequities in healthcare outcomes. As each provider works in their local context, we sought to provide an evidence-informed framework for designing, implementing, and evaluating local health inequity interventions in primary care.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to increased use of digital clinical consultations (phone or video calls) within UK maternity services. This project aimed to review the evidence on digital clinical consultations in maternity systems to illuminate how, for whom and in what contexts, they can be used to support safe, personalised and equitable care.
Design: A realist synthesis, drawing on diverse sources of evidence (2010-present) from OECD countries, alongside insights from knowledge user groups (representing healthcare providers and service users).
Background: Housing insecurity can be understood as experiencing or being at risk of multiple house moves that are not through choice and related to poverty. Many aspects of housing have all been shown to impact children/young people's health and wellbeing. However, the pathways linking housing and childhood health and wellbeing are complex and poorly understood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To systematically review and synthesise evidence on the effectiveness and implementation barriers/facilitators of pharmacist-led interventions to promote medicines optimisation and reduce overprescribing in UK primary care.
Design: Systematic review.
Setting: UK primary care.
Objective: The objective of this study is to map the international evidence for extreme heat related adaptation strategies by health systems, with a particular focus on how heat-vulnerable populations and local situational awareness are considered in these strategies.
Introduction: Since the Paris Climate Accords in 2015, awareness has increased of the health risks posed by extreme heat along with interest in adaptations which aim to reduce heat-health-risks for vulnerable populations. However, the extant literature on these adaptations suggest they are insufficient, and call for research to examine whether, how, and what adaptations for extreme heat are effective as public health interventions.
Objective: To provide an overview review of international evidence of vocational outcomes in Individual Placement and Support (IPS) interventions for populations other than severe mental health.
Methods: An overview of reviews published in English since 2000 reporting vocational outcomes (job entry, work sustainment, earnings, work hours, time to job entry) against counterfactuals of IPS interventions for population groups other than severe mental health. The overview review maximises data from individual studies and includes additional recent primary studies.
Objectives: To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of the aortic dissection detection risk score (ADD-RS) used alone or in combination with D-dimer for detecting acute aortic syndrome (AAS) in patients presenting with symptoms suggestive of AAS.
Methods: We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library from inception to February 2024. Additionally, the reference lists of included studies and other systematic reviews were thoroughly searched.
Study Objective: Acute aortic syndrome is a life-threatening emergency condition. Previous systematic reviews of D-dimer diagnostic accuracy for acute aortic syndrome have been contradictory and based on limited data, but recently published studies offer potential for a more definitive overview. We aimed to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis to determine the diagnostic accuracy of D-dimer for diagnosing acute aortic syndrome.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Economically developed economies continue to display large and long-standing disability employment gaps. Train-then-place activation models have traditionally dominated efforts to support non-working disabled people to gain employment but recently there has been increasing interest in place-then-train Supported Employment (SE) activation models.
Objective: Evidence regarding the effectiveness of SE approaches is growing.
Background: Housing insecurity can be understood as experiencing or being at risk of multiple house moves that are (1) not through choice and (2) related to poverty. For example, due to short-term private rental tenancies, temporary or emergency housing, and homelessness. Housing insecurity has grown due to recent trends in the cost and availability of housing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Smoking cessation interventions are being introduced into routine secondary care in the United Kingdom (UK), but there are person and setting-related factors that could moderate their success in quitting smoking. This review was conducted as part of an evaluation of the QUIT hospital-based tobacco dependence treatment service ( https://sybics-quit.co.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 is the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019. Over six million deaths worldwide have been associated with coronavirus disease 2019.
Objective: To assess the cost-effectiveness of treatments used for the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 in hospital or used in the community in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 at high risk of hospitalisation.
Objective: To summarise the evidence on the impacts of gambling-related advertising that could lead to gambling-related harm, including impacts on vulnerable individuals and inequalities in the distribution of harms.
Study Design: An umbrella review of studies investigating the impact of gambling advertising.
Methods: A review was undertaken of systematic reviews of qualitative, quantitative and mixed method studies reporting outcomes associated with gambling advertising and marketing.
Objectives: To assess the comparative accuracy of risk assessment models (RAMs) to identify women during pregnancy and the early postnatal period who are at increased risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE).
Design: Systematic review following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines.
Data Sources: MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Library and two research registers were searched until February 2021.
Introduction: One of the most commonly reported COVID-19-related changes to all maternity services has been an increase in the use of digital clinical consultations such as telephone or video calling; however, the ways in which they can be optimally used along maternity care pathways remain unclear. It is imperative that digital service innovations do not further exacerbate (and, ideally, should tackle) existing inequalities in service access and clinical outcomes. Using a realist approach, this project aims to synthesise the evidence around implementation of digital clinical consultations, seeking to illuminate how they can work to support safe, personalised and appropriate maternity care and to clarify when they might be most appropriately used, for whom, when, and in what contexts?
Methods And Analysis: The review will be conducted in four iterative phases, with embedded stakeholder involvement: (1) refining the review focus and generating initial programme theories, (2) exploring and developing the programme theories in light of evidence, (3) testing/refining the programme theories and (4) constructing actionable recommendations.
Background & Aims: Poor nutritional outcomes are observed in people with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (pwALS) including weight loss and poor dietary intake. Surveys of healthcare professionals have highlighted the lack of evidence and knowledge regarding nutritional management of ALS throughout the disease course. Furthermore, national evidence-based guidance is lacking.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To identify the themes to inform the content of a new generic measure, the EQ-HWB (EQ Health and Wellbeing), that can be used in economic evaluation across health, social care, and public health, based on the views of users and beneficiaries of these services including informal carers.
Methods: A qualitative review was undertaken. Systematic and citation searches were undertaken focusing on qualitative evidence of the impact on quality of life from reviews for selected health conditions, informal carers, social care users, and primary qualitative work used in the development of selected measures.