Similar case studies

REF impact found 45 Case Studies

Currently displayed text from case study:

Cardiovascular outcomes research: blood pressure and lipid lowering

Summary of the impact

Caulfield co-led and was a principal investigator (PI) on Anglo-Scandinavian Cardiac Outcomes Trial (ASCOT). Hitman co-led and was a PI on Collaborative AtoRvastatin Diabetes Study (CARDS). These studies dramatically changed national and international guidance for diabetes, hypertension and cholesterol, leading to widespread and far-reaching changes in management of common and potentially fatal risk factors. For example, the proportion of hypertensive patients in England with good BP control (<140/90) rose from 52% in 2006 to 62% in 2011; the mean total cholesterol level of the population has fallen by 0.5 Mmol/L between 1998 and 2011.

Submitting Institution

Queen Mary, University of London

Unit of Assessment

Clinical Medicine

Summary Impact Type

Health

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Cardiorespiratory Medicine and Haematology, Clinical Sciences, Public Health and Health Services

Global adoption of statins for cardiovascular disease prevention

Summary of the impact

More than half of UK adults aged over 45 years have high cholesterol levels, the major modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Over the past 20 years, University of Glasgow researchers have led numerous landmark clinical trials establishing the benefits of statins for CVD prevention. High-profile international clinical guidelines on lipid lowering cite these studies in the key evidence base for recommendations to guide statin use, demonstrating the considerable influence this work exerts on current clinical practice and public health. This has driven the global uptake of statins and provided the evidence-base for CVD risk assessment and prevention strategies that are now implemented worldwide. The use of statins has transformed patient care, provided a cost-effective prevention strategy for healthcare providers and made major contributions to the falling CVD mortality rates across Europe and the US.

Submitting Institution

University of Glasgow

Unit of Assessment

Clinical Medicine

Summary Impact Type

Health

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Clinical Sciences, Public Health and Health Services

The use of aspirin as a primary prophylaxis against cardiovascular events in patients with Diabetes

Summary of the impact

An eight year MRC-funded clinical trial led by the University of Dundee and run throughout Scotland (16 hospitals, 188 GP Surgeries) exploring aspirin in diabetes for primary cardiovascular event prevention, where clinical practice had evolved without evidence.

  • NHS: Implementation of results in general practices, hospitals, and Health Boards globally, by ceasing to prescribe aspirin as primary prevention in diabetes.
  • Policy: Resulted in major changes to international Guidelines globally e.g. American Diabetes Association Guidelines, Australian, New Zealand and Canadian Guidelines and Scottish Intercollegiate Guideline Network (SIGN).
  • Improved Patient Care and Health Outcomes: Reduction in aspirin prescribing with decrease in adverse events, reduction in concomitant proton pump inhibition prescribing.
  • Internationalisation: Implementation worldwide, by doctors and pharmacists with reports in lay publications, radio programmes, TV interviews and patient targeted websites.

Submitting Institution

University of Dundee

Unit of Assessment

Clinical Medicine

Summary Impact Type

Health

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Cardiorespiratory Medicine and Haematology, Clinical Sciences, Public Health and Health Services

Blood Pressure and Lipid-Lowering Treatment: Impact on Cardiovascular Outcomes and Influence on Guidelines

Summary of the impact

The Anglo-Scandinavian Cardiac Outcomes Trial (ASCOT; Co-Chairman, Professor Sever) was an investigator designed and led multinational study in which different blood pressure-lowering and lipid-lowering treatment strategies were investigated in an attempt to define optimal programmes for intervention to prevent cardiovascular disease in hypertensive subjects. The outcomes of both the antihypertensive arm and the lipid arm of the trial defined the benefits of more contemporary treatments for hypertensive subjects, including calcium channel blockers, angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors and statins, which have been incorporated into national and international guidelines (including NICE), and have impacted on current clinical practice in the prevention of cardiovascular disease worldwide.

Submitting Institution

Imperial College London

Unit of Assessment

Clinical Medicine

Summary Impact Type

Health

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Cardiorespiratory Medicine and Haematology, Clinical Sciences, Public Health and Health Services

Statin Therapy: Patient Selection, Clinical Guidelines and revision of safety labelling

Summary of the impact

Over the past ten years, the prescription of cholesterol-lowering statins has soared and they are now the most prescribed drugs in the UK and the US. However, this has raised concerns about inappropriate prescribing. University of Glasgow research has been pivotal in addressing this issue and has triggered revision of major international guidelines to stratify patients in the general population for statin therapy and guide statin use in the rheumatoid arthritis patient population. The identification of a statin-associated risk for diabetes prompted the European Medicines Agency and the US Food & Drug Administration to revise safety labelling for all classes of statins. This risk is now communicated to the 27 million patients in the UK and US who are prescribed statins.

Submitting Institution

University of Glasgow

Unit of Assessment

Clinical Medicine

Summary Impact Type

Health

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Cardiorespiratory Medicine and Haematology, Clinical Sciences, Public Health and Health Services

UOA01-17: Defining Type 2 Diabetes in the United Kingdom

Summary of the impact

The University of Oxford's United Kingdom Prospective Diabetes Study (UKPDS) was a landmark 30-year clinical trial, reported in over 80 academic research papers between 1983 and 2008. It showed beyond doubt that diabetic complications, previously thought to be inevitable consequences of the condition, could be delayed or prevented by improved treatment from the time of diagnosis. These findings have had a profound influence on the management of type 2 diabetes, clinical guidelines, and standards of care, and have reduced diabetes-related complications worldwide, lowering the incidence of blindness, kidney failure, amputation, heart attack and stroke.

Submitting Institution

University of Oxford

Unit of Assessment

Clinical Medicine

Summary Impact Type

Health

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Clinical Sciences, Public Health and Health Services

Redefining hypertension treatment practice to reduce primary and secondary stroke risk

Summary of the impact

Stroke is the leading cause of disability and a major cause of death in the developed world. Hypertension (high blood pressure) is the single most important modifiable risk factor for stroke, contributing to around 50% of all events. University of Glasgow researchers have played lead roles in the design, conduct and analysis of pivotal clinical trials on treatment regimens for hypertension. These research findings have informed European and UK hypertension and stroke guidelines, advancing treatment strategies, and contributed to the observed ~25% reduction in the incidence of primary (first) and secondary (recurrent) stroke.

Submitting Institution

University of Glasgow

Unit of Assessment

Clinical Medicine

Summary Impact Type

Health

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Cardiorespiratory Medicine and Haematology, Clinical Sciences, Public Health and Health Services

Informing national policy to increase prescribing of statins for the prevention of heart disease

Summary of the impact

University of Sheffield research which evaluated the clinical and cost-effectiveness of statins for the primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular events has directly led to an additional 3.3 million people in England and Wales becoming eligible for this treatment. Statins have been shown to reduce the risk of future cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks and stroke.

Guidance on statin prescribing in England and Wales, issued by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Appraisal Committee in January 2006 was informed by our research report. Following this guidance the number of patients receiving statins has increased year on year with the number of prescriptions increasing by 29% between 2007 and 2011, enabling these patients to benefit from reduced risk of heart attacks and stroke and CVD related deaths.

Submitting Institution

University of Sheffield

Unit of Assessment

Public Health, Health Services and Primary Care

Summary Impact Type

Health

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Clinical Sciences, Public Health and Health Services

UOA02-03: Statin Therapy for Preventing Heart Attacks and Strokes

Summary of the impact

Studies coordinated by the University of Oxford's Clinical Trial Service Unit (CTSU) within the Nuffield Department of Population Health (NDPH) have strongly influenced the labelling of statin medication internationally, treatment guidelines, and the resulting changes in prescribing have contributed to reductions in mortality and morbidity from heart attack and ischaemic stroke in many countries. CTSU's randomised trials and meta-analyses of trials have shown that lowering low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol safely reduces the risk of heart attacks, strokes and revascularisation procedures in a wide range of people, and work conducted in collaboration with the NDPH's Health Economic Research Centre has provided clear evidence of cost-effectiveness of statins.

Submitting Institution

University of Oxford

Unit of Assessment

Public Health, Health Services and Primary Care

Summary Impact Type

Political

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Cardiorespiratory Medicine and Haematology, Clinical Sciences, Public Health and Health Services

Improving Quality for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention in Europe and the National Health Service

Summary of the impact

In response to the gap between standards and the reality of preventive cardiovascular disease (CVD) health care delivered across Europe, Imperial College researchers developed an innovative nurse-led, multidisciplinary, family centred, CVD prevention programme (EUROACTION) and led its evaluation in hospital and general practice across 8 European countries. We showed that patients and their families in our programme can achieve healthier lifestyles and better risk factor management compared to usual care and these differences were sustained out to one year. We then adapted our learning from EUROACTION for the NHS, by integrating secondary and primary prevention into one community service (MYACTION), and managing cardiovascular disease as a family of diseases with common antecedents. To train doctors, nurses and allied professionals to deliver MYACTION we created an MSc in Preventive Cardiology which is now in its 6th year. EUROACTION is now recommended as an evidence based model of care in current European CVD prevention guidelines, and MYACTION is being commissioned by the NHS in London, and Galway, Republic of Ireland, and by the Western Isles Health Board. Our research has impacted directly on the development and delivery of high quality preventive care in both Europe, and the NHS, and on the training of doctors, nurses and allied health professionals in preventive cardiology.

Submitting Institution

Imperial College London

Unit of Assessment

Clinical Medicine

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services

Filter Impact Case Studies

Download Impact Case Studies