Examples of previous studies
Research priorities for people living with osteoporosis
We conducted a national survey of more than 1000 people with osteoporosis to find out what these people thought was important for future research. The top rating issues from this survey are now being used by the Royal Osteoporosis Society to inform how they fund future research projects.
Mood problems in people with rheumatoid arthritis
We conducted interviews with patients attending rheumatoid arthritis clinics to understand more about the impact of rheumatoid arthritis on mood and how this could be best managed. Patients helped us to create a leaflet about mood and rheumatoid arthritis, available at the PIER patient education center at the Haywood. Findings from this study have been used to inform a nurse led review for patients with inflammatory conditions in GP practices.
Characteristics associated with improvement in patients with sciatica
We conducted a large study with patients consulting in primary care with low back and leg pain including sciatica (the ATLAS study), so that we understand better which patients are likely to do well over time. We found that in the long term the main factors associated with improvement were patients believing that they will get better soon and not having many other complaints attributed to the back and leg pain. These factors can help patients and clinicians decide about timing and intensity of available treatments for pain relief in sciatica patients.
Naproxen or low-dose colchicine treatment for gout flares?
The CONTACT trial randomly allocated 399 people having a gout flare to be treated with either naproxen or low-dose colchicine. Pain improved to similar extent whether people were treated with naproxen or colchicine. People who received colchicine were more likely to get side-effects such as diarrhoea or headache and need to take extra painkillers such as paracetamol or codeine for gout pain. Treatment with naproxen was cost-effective. These findings suggest that naproxen should be the first-line treatment for gout flares, as long as a patient doesn’t have medical reasons why they shouldn’t take naproxen.
