Research Subject Area: Ophthalmology and Optometry

REF impact found 35 Case Studies

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Applying epidemiology to understand visual impairment in childhood: burden, aetiology, diagnosis, management and outcomes.

Summary of the impact

Our research into the epidemiology of childhood visual impairment has transformed understanding of the epidemiology, outcomes and impact of childhood visual impairment in the UK. As a result, changes have been made to the Newborn and Infant Physical Examination Programme and the National Vision Screening Programme. Our work has underpinned the development of new quality standards for paediatric ophthalmology services issued by the Royal College of Ophthalmologists. Our studies on congenital cataract have improved the management of this condition nationally. We have involved visually impaired service users and patient groups directly in our research to improve quality of life measures and patient engagement.

Submitting Institution

University College London

Unit of Assessment

Public Health, Health Services and Primary Care

Summary Impact Type

Health

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Ophthalmology and Optometry, Public Health and Health Services

Addressing The Global Burden of Eye Diseases

Summary of the impact

Anglia Ruskin University's Professor Bourne leads the Vision Loss Experts Group (VLEG) which is part of the Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD. Comprising 79 leading ophthalmic epidemiologists from around the world, and carried out in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO), VLEG compiled the most up-to-date statistics ever generated on the prevalence of global blindness, facilitating the analysis of trends and risk factors, and producing detailed future projections.

VLEG data have been described as "a critical contribution to our understanding of present and future health priorities for countries and the global community" (Editor-in-Chief, The Lancet, Dec 2012). The findings have directly impacted on healthcare policymakers and professionals, charities and economic analysts, both in the UK and overseas, increasing their awareness of global eye care issues. These users have applied this increased awareness at a:

a. Global level where the data have become a significant resource in health analyses by economists and healthcare planners such as PricewaterhouseCoopers and the World Economic Forum (WEF), enabling these organisations to provide recommendations for eye-health policies and practices. These reports predict the socio-economic impact of visual impairment in the world and provide an insight into the economic return from investments in eye-health treatment programmes. These in turn have informed the development of healthcare planning nationally and internationally, including the Eye Health Strategy by Vision2020 Australia. In addition, the research findings were used by NGOs and opinion leaders in ophthalmology at the Congress of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB), informing discussion of blindness prevention strategies. This led directly to the development of an Action Plan for the Prevention of Avoidable Blindness and Visual Impairment (2014-2019) by the WHO, which was endorsed by the 66th World Health Assembly. Furthermore, the World Bank, as part of its mission to alleviate poverty, has adopted the data to inform funding priorities for health care projects in developing countries.

b. National level where VLEG findings drew attention to the absence of reliable data, subsequently leading to the commissioning of a detailed countrywide National Eye Survey of Trinidad and Tobago (NESTT), worth £350,000, in order to identify and address eye-health priorities.

Submitting Institution

Anglia Ruskin University

Unit of Assessment

Allied Health Professions, Dentistry, Nursing and Pharmacy

Summary Impact Type

Political

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Ophthalmology and Optometry, Public Health and Health Services

Improved Eye and Healthcare for diabetic patients of South Asian origin

Summary of the impact

Research led by Pardhan has enhanced the healthcare offered to diabetic patients of South Asian origin in the UK and overseas (Pakistan, East Africa). Prevalence of diabetes within this ethnic group is six times higher than in Caucasians. Our research into this group, which demonstrated an increased risk of sight-threatening eye disease and poor engagement with screening/treatment regimes, has impacted upon both patients and healthcare practitioners. Ophthalmologists, general practitioners and other clinicians have used our findings to target various physiological and cultural factors that influence diabetic control and eye health in the South Asian population.

Our research also provided the underpinning data that informed reports commissioned by the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB). These reports demonstrate the increased prevalence of eye problems in patients of South Asian origin, and highlight the barriers that affect patients' access to primary and secondary eye-care across the UK. The reports evaluate the effectiveness of current management, and suggest strategies to improve the eye health of this group of patients.

These reports have led directly to the creation of dedicated community-based eye-care programmes. Funded by the Royal National Institute of Blind People (£400,000) and Innovation, Excellence and Strategic Development Fund (Department of Health), the programmes are designed to reduce diabetic-related complications through improved self care by patients in Bradford and Glasgow, regions that have significant Asian diabetic populations.

Submitting Institution

Anglia Ruskin University

Unit of Assessment

Allied Health Professions, Dentistry, Nursing and Pharmacy

Summary Impact Type

Health

Research Subject Area(s)

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

Cataract Surgery – Quality of Life Benefits and Improved Access to Treatment in the UK and beyond

Summary of the impact

The most frequent surgical procedure undertaken in the NHS is cataract surgery and it improves vision and quality of life (QoL). In the 1990's there were long waiting times for cataract surgery with rationing most frequently restricting surgery on the 2nd eye. A randomised controlled trial undertaken at the University of Bristol (UoB) demonstrated clear QoL benefits from 2nd eye cataract surgery, followed by a population study quantifying population requirements for 1st and 2nd eye surgery and the surgical backlog. Government policy, announced in `Action on Cataracts — Good Practice Guidance, 2000', advised that the volume cataract surgery, including on the 2nd eye, should be increased. This policy ensured timely access to surgery becoming routine practice in the NHS, thus improving the lives of thousands of people. Second-eye surgery rates rose from ~25% of operations to 35-40%, with overall increases in operations for patients needing surgery (e.g. in England up from 201,682 operations in 1998-1999 to 332,625 in 2009-2010) and reduced waiting times. These improvements were sustained through to the end of the 2000's. The research has become highly relevant again as the NHS enters another period of constrained expenditure.

Submitting Institution

University of Bristol

Unit of Assessment

Public Health, Health Services and Primary Care

Summary Impact Type

Health

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Ophthalmology and Optometry, Public Health and Health Services

Changes to ophthalmic clinical practice to help reduce trips and falls

Summary of the impact

Falls are a common and serious health risk for older people and reducing falls is a priority for the NHS. Research at the University of Bradford on the link between vision and falls has led to new healthcare guidelines, specifically those from the College of Optometrists and the British Geriatrics Society and endorsed by Age UK and the Royal College of General Practitioners. Continuing professional development practices have changed and public awareness of this health risk has been raised by Which? reports and subsequent media coverage. These developments have impacted on the health and welfare of older people, particularly those at risk of falls.

Submitting Institution

University of Bradford

Unit of Assessment

Allied Health Professions, Dentistry, Nursing and Pharmacy

Summary Impact Type

Health

Research Subject Area(s)

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

Commercial Development of Stem Cells for Regenerative Medicine

Summary of the impact

Research on stem cells has led to an explosion of interest in the field of regenerative medicine, with the potential for new clinical interventions and treatments. Pioneering research in Sheffield led to the founding of a spin-out company, Axordia, in 2001, focussed on the applications of human embryonic stem cells (hESC) in medicine. Several hESC lines (including SHEF-1) were developed by Axordia, which was sold to Intercytex in 2008 for £1.68M. These Sheffield-derived hESC lines were then sold on to a major pharmaceutical company, Pfizer, for $0.75M in 2009. As a result, a clinical grade derivative of SHEF1 has been developed and approved for clinical trials for treating Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD). Finally, Sheffield researchers have informed emerging regulatory guidelines about the safety of hESC regenerative medicine applications by authoring reports for government and research councils.

Submitting Institution

University of Sheffield

Unit of Assessment

Allied Health Professions, Dentistry, Nursing and Pharmacy

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Biological Sciences: Biochemistry and Cell Biology
Medical and Health Sciences: Ophthalmology and Optometry

Development of new treatments for uveitis

Summary of the impact

Research at the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology over the last 15 years has developed new treatments for management of uveitis and its sight-threatening complications, which have subsequently become standard practice. Our work, in previously untreatable disease, has allowed restoration of vision in many patients and prevention of further visual loss in others. Many patients have been able to reduce systemic medication, limiting adverse effects of treatment.

Submitting Institution

University College London

Unit of Assessment

Clinical Medicine

Summary Impact Type

Health

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Clinical Sciences, Ophthalmology and Optometry

Development of Novel Tamponade Agents has Improved the Treatment of Retinal Detachment

Summary of the impact

The University of Liverpool (UoL) has developed novel tamponade agents used to treat retinal detachments. They are modified silicone oils that have an increased extensional viscosity. This makes it easier to inject into the eye by the vitreoretinal surgeons and, experimentally, they have an increased emulsification resistance. This technology has been licenced to Fluoron GmbH who manufacture these products under the name Siluron® 2000 and Siluron® Xtra. Siluron® 2000 has been on the market worldwide since 2008 and used to treat patients providing an impact to health by enhancing the clinical outcome for retinal detachment patients. Siluron® Xtra was launched in July 2013.

Submitting Institutions

University of Liverpool,Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine

Unit of Assessment

Clinical Medicine

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Ophthalmology and Optometry

Diagnosis and treatment of Nystagmus: improving medical effectiveness and patient quality of care

Summary of the impact

Infantile nystagmus (IN), previously known as congenital nystagmus, is a condition that impairs vision by causing continual and involuntary oscillatory movements of the eyes. IN begins in infancy and is a lifelong disorder, affecting over 88,000 people in the UK. Leicester is the leading UK centre for research into the underlying mechanisms and treatment of IN: discovering the genetic mutations behind some of the common forms of nystagmus; pioneering early diagnosis of IN; and conducting randomised clinical trials into drug treatments and other therapies. The centre provides advanced scientific and medical knowledge, and support and advice to sufferers of this physically and psychologically debilitating condition. The work has resulted in new methods of diagnosis which are more comfortable and convenient for patients and enable cost-savings for healthcare providers; and has led to the testing and subsequent prescription of pharmacological treatments which offer patients improvements in quality of life.

Submitting Institution

University of Leicester

Unit of Assessment

Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience

Summary Impact Type

Health

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Clinical Sciences, Neurosciences, Ophthalmology and Optometry

Excimer laser technology for the correction of refractive disorders

Summary of the impact

Laser eye surgery is one of the most performed and successful types of surgery in the world. King's College London (KCL) researchers have been intimately involved in the development and improvement of techniques for both surgery and after-care to provide optimal results for the tens of millions of patients who undergo this type of treatment. KCL work is used by the world-penetrating companies Zeiss and Avedro to show evidence of the development of their latest techniques such as ReLEx and corneal cross-linking and by guidelines both in the UK (NICE) and abroad (the American Academy of Ophthalmology) to provide information on the long-term benefits and side-effects of laser eye surgery.

Submitting Institution

King's College London

Unit of Assessment

Biological Sciences

Summary Impact Type

Technological

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Neurosciences, Ophthalmology and Optometry

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