Research Practice

• Dare2Think

Preventing stroke, premature death and cognitive decline in a broader community of patients with atrial fibrillation using healthcare data for pragmatic research:

• Duration

UTIs are the most common bacterial infection seen in primary care and far more common in women than men. Over four million prescriptions for UTIs are issued to women in the UK every year. However, there is little evidence to help GPs decide how many days of antibiotic treatment are necessary.

We need to make sure that the antibiotics are taken for long enough to treat the infection, but avoid overtreating, as this increases the likelihood of bacteria becoming antibiotic resistant, which would mean that future UTIs could be harder to treat.

Our main goal is to find to find the shortest antibiotic treatment duration needed to effectively treat urinary tract infections (UTIs) in women. We will measure this by seeing how many study participants stay healthy without needing more medical help for their UTIs up to 42 days after treatment.

• INDIGO

• Restore

After a stroke, many people experience long-term challenges such as fatigue, low mood, or reduced fitness and confidence. Stroke survivors have told us that when their hospital or follow-up care finishes after about six months, the lack of treatment for their ongoing physical and mental health problems is very challenging and frustrating.

The ReSTORe study aims to find out if a home-based, supervised online programme can help improve well-being after a stroke. We will be looking at which of these two treatments will help people recover the most:

1. A single online session of advice and support with a trained professional.

OR

1. A 10-week supervised, online, home-based, group exercise and recovery support programme.

• Virology and serology surveillance

Nearly 2000 practices in England and Wales are contributing pseudonymised data for national research and surveillance. These data enable continuous monitoring of infections and diseases in the community and is used in ethically approved research. The Oxford Royal College of General Practitioners Research and Surveillance Centre (Oxford-RCGP RSC) is the main source of information for UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and helps with prediction and management of flu outbreaks and pandemics.

Since the early 1990s, Oxford-RCGP RSC network practices have volunteered to take part in yearly influenza virology surveillance, in collaboration with UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). With the introduction of the COVID-19 pandemic this work has since broadened to encompass other respiratory viruses, such as influenza, COVID-19 and Respiratory Syncytial Virus.

Practices submitting virology and serology sampling are important to the RCGP RSC, sampling allows us to monitor the spread of communicable and respiratory diseases across primary care.

Participating practices assist the network by collecting nasopharyngeal samples from patients clinically suspected of having a respiratory virus. Results are then linked to pseudonymised clinical data. Its primary role is to confirm these cases, but also to look at the impact of other diseases, to characterise more vulnerable populations, and to support in the evaluation of vaccine effectiveness. Most interest is currently on how age, gender, ethnicity, household size, and population density link to rates of infection.

A serological (blood test) surveillance arm has also been rolled-out, which contributes important and timely data on background population immunity to respiratory illnesses, and vaccine effectiveness.

• IID3