Six colleagues from General Practice and Primary Care presented work at the first virtual NAPCRG annual meeting (20-24 November 2020)

 Group of staff attending virtual international conference

Via a new online platform, they presented some of the latest research and work from collaborations across IHW.

  • Jordan Canning, MRC Precision Medicine PhD candidate, was selected to present results from a systematic review that examined the relationship between rheumatoid arthritis, multimorbidity and health-related outcomes in a live interactive session at NAPCRG 2020. Jordan also presented a poster detailing the association between an extended lifestyle score and all-cause mortality and cardiovascular events in rheumatoid arthritis at this virtual conference.
  • Dr Neave Corcoran, SSPC GP Clinical Academic Fellow, presented a virtual poster and accompanying video presentation entitled 'Multimorbidity and colorectal cancer risk in the UK Biobank cohort'. This work demonstrates associations between a number of long-term health conditions and colorectal cancer incidence and mortality in the UK Biobank dataset. This work will help guide further research in the area of multimorbidity and cancer risk.
  • Dr Hamish Foster, MRC Clinical Research Training Fellow, delivered a live presentation on UK Biobank work that makes a key contribution to COVID-19 risk stratification as it identifies those with multimorbidity, especially cardiometabolic multimorbidity, as being at higher risk of COVID-19 infection. Hamish also presented additional UK Biobank work which illustrates the greater risk of poor COVID-19 outcomes for those from more socioeconomically deprived backgrounds who also have a combination of unhealthy health behaviours (e.g., smoking, high alcohol, low physical activity).
  • Dr Katie Gallacher, Senior Clinical Research Fellow, presented research on frailty in stroke survivors via analysis of data from surveys of older adults. Methods of measuring frailty after stroke were examined and associations between frailty after stroke and health-related outcomes explored. Dr Gallacher also presented work with colleagues from the University of Aberdeen exploring barriers and facilitators to deprescribing anticholinergic medications through interviews with stakeholders. Findings will inform the design of a future clinical trial.
  • Dr Peter Hanlon, MRC Clinical Research Training Fellow, delivered a live presentation on the prevalence and implications of frailty in clinical trials. This work analysed individual participant data from 19 trials and showed that moderate frailty was common and identifiable in many clinical trials and associated with an increased risk of serious adverse events. These results suggest trial data could be better used to inform disease management in people living with frailty. Further, the study implies that frailty should be actively identified in clinical trials in order to identifying participants who may merit closer monitoring.
  • Dr Marianne McCallum, CSO Clinical PhD Fellow, presented a poster outlining her PhD which will examine how individual and community factors influence capacity to manage multimorbidity in the context of socioeconomic deprivation. A greater understanding of these factors is critical to understand the barriers (seen and unseen) to managing multimorbidity in the context of socio-economic deprivation, particularly the influence of wider community capacity. The results will inform the design of future interventions and services that enhance capacity to manage multimorbidity and narrow, rather than widen, health inequalities.

Everyone enjoyed showcasing their work, although it was noted how it is still possible to suffer from nerves when you’re presenting at a large international conference from the comfort of your own home! An advantage of virtual conferencing (as well as a smaller carbon footprint) is that conference attendees can continue to get something out of the conference as the presentations and plenary sessions remain available online for 90 days.

Hamish Foster
Clinical Research Fellow (General Practice and Primary Care)

First published: 14 March 2018

<< November 2020