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Our research has led to a change in DoH guidelines on maternal consumption of peanut during pregnancy/breastfeeding.
Guidelines until 2009 advocated the avoidance of peanut in allergic families. However evidence base for this advice was poor and the advice was adopted by families regardless of their allergy status leading to significant constraints on their lifestyles. Our research revealed that peanut allergy is not associated with maternal peanut consumption, and that there was no need for pregnant women to avoid peanut during pregnancy. On the basis of our research DoH concluded that previous guidance was inappropriate and it was thus withdrawn.
Improved approaches to the management of asthma treatment in children, new NHS and BUPA healthcare guidance and changes in UK media attitudes have arisen from fundamental and clinical research at Brighton into the effects of genotype variation on responses to asthma medicines in children. Direct clinical benefits in quality of life resulted from the first-ever randomised clinical trial on genotype specific treatments for asthma. The subsequent worldwide media debate led to wider professional and public understanding of genetically-directed treatment choices and personalised medicines, with particular impact on parents of children with asthma.
Research by the University of Aberdeen has helped deliver a turnaround in the medical advice given to pregnant women in the UK regarding the consumption of peanuts. Previous Department of Health advice was for pregnant women with a personal or family history of allergic disease to avoid eating peanuts in order to prevent allergy in their offspring. However, the Aberdeen research into neonatal immune responses demonstrated that laboratory responses of cord blood mononuclear cells exposed to allergens in vitro were unrelated to antenatal allergen exposure. The findings and resulting change in health advice attracted wide international attention.
Therefore this research has had impact in: health and welfare by changing dietary guidelines, increasing public awareness of a health risk public behaviour and influencing decisions and care practices by a health service.
Prior to King's College London (KCL) research, social workers did not regularly assess mental health needs of Looked After Children (i.e. those in the care of their Local Authority). KCL investigations showed that 45% of British Looked After Children have mental health disorders, considerably pushing this issue up the policy agenda. KCL developed assessments that are now the statutory annual measures used by all Local Authority children's services in England. The assessments enable Local Authorities to identify the treatment needs of Looked After Children and plan accordingly. The Department for Education requires Local Authorities to complete the measures. The measures are used worldwide and are now key elements of treatment trials of social and psychological interventions to reduce the level of difficulties in Looked After Children.
Professor Dieter Wolke has led several research programmes that delineate the long-term health effects of prenatal exposure to stress and moderate/late preterm, very preterm, and extremely preterm birth. His research has had a direct impact on international medical guidelines and educational recommendations for babies born preterm. The research has also informed European political debate (via a White Paper for the European parliament) on healthcare policy related to after care for preterm or sick children; has influenced UK policy regarding the education of children born preterm; and has contributed to public and practitioner understanding through media items issued, for example, by the NHS and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.
The University of Southampton's Food Additives and Behaviour in Children (FABIC) study has driven major changes in food processing and labelling policies. As a direct result of the research, the UK's Food Standards Agency recommended six artificial colourings — which have come to be known as the `Southampton Six' — be removed from food. In addition, the European Parliament now requires clear labelling to indicate the use of these colourings, as well as an accompanying warning about their effects on attention and behaviour in children. The risk of youngsters throughout Europe being exposed to potentially harmful additives has thus been significantly reduced.
Research led by Professor Shields and colleagues at Queen's University Belfast has resulted in changes in the treatment of children with cough and wheezing disorders and has been a major contributor to International Asthma and Cough Guideline statements.
Wheezing affects up to one third of children. Research studies that demonstrated that viral induced wheezing (VIW) or isolated cough were not associated with persistent airway inflammation led to a change in recommendations for anti-asthma therapy, such that the use of high dose inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) was no longer recommended in such cases. Furthermore, the dangers of very high dose ICS were better recognized and the upper recommended dose of steroids for use in treatment of classical childhood asthma was reduced accordingly.
Some 480,000 UK children show persistent antisocial behaviour (Conduct Disorder), a major mental health problem in childhood with strong continuity to adult substance misuse, violence and criminality. Research at King's College London (KCL) showed that these children cost the public ten times more than individuals without Conduct Disorder by age 28. To tackle the problem, KCL researchers were the first to demonstrate that a rigorous parenting programme is a highly effective treatment, even for severe cases. KCL leads the National Academy for Parenting Research which has trained 3,192 practitioners in these approaches, who are estimated to have treated 192,000 troubled children. This success has contributed to the programmes being recommended in NICE guidance and incorporated in a new nation-wide Department of Health-funded rollout reaching 54% of 0-19 year olds in England. The training has also been disseminated internationally.
Research conducted by the University of Liverpool (UoL) has convincingly shown that there are strong links between the exposure of children to food advertising, brand recognition and being overweight or obese. This work consistently informs the policies of regulators and health agencies, nationally and internationally. In this specific example, work by Halford and Boyland to characterize the effects of food advertising on children's diet, food preferences, intake and body weight has had a direct effect on UK and overseas policy development. Notably this includes informing WHO guidelines to national governments on introducing effective regulatory frameworks and for monitoring their effectiveness.