This is an introduction to the ongoing Cambridge-led research projects
funded by the NIHR School for Primary Care Research.

Optimising Management of Patients with Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction in Primary Care (Optimise-HFpEF)

(01/10/2017 – 30/06/2020)
Professor Christi Deaton

Heart failure (HF) is a condition in which the heart does not work well to pump blood around the body. About half of all people with HF have a type in which the heart is very stiff. This type is more common in older people with a history of high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes, but it is hard to diagnose and poorly understood. No specific drugs have been found to help it, except for diuretics or ‘water pills’. For now, recommendations for managing this type of HF focus on controlling blood pressure, blood sugar, and being active. Most patients are looked after in general practice sometimes in collaboration with specialists. In this study we want to identify and follow a group of patients with this type of HF for a year to better understand their HF, their other conditions, needs for support, experience of treatment, and if they have problems requiring hospital care. We will collect information at the start, then 6 and 12 months later. We will also interview patients and health care professionals from general practice and cardiology services to discuss how we can improve care of patients. Read more

Improving the evidence-base for primary care: NIHR Evidence Synthesis working group

(01/10/2017 – 30/09/2020)
Dr Stephen Barclay

For doctors and patients to make reliable judgments about the value of a medical test or treatments od the organisation of healthcare, they should have access to the best available evidence. However, basing a decision on just one bit of evidence is rarely reliable to make a decision in healthcare. Therefore we need to collect all the evidence, on a specific topic, and summarise this evidence. One way to do this is by carrying out “systematic reviews”. This method – systematic reviews – collects all the evidence on a given medical topic, making a judgment as to whether the evidence is good or bad, and finally summarizing all of this evidence to provide an overall summary of the implications and the effectiveness. Read more

Birmingham Atrial Fibrillation Treatment of the Aged Study

(01/09/2018 – 30/09/2020)
Professor Jonathan Mant

The role of CA125 in the detection of ovarian cancer in symptomatic women in primary

(01/12/2018 to 30/12/2020)
Dr Garth Funston

Ovarian cancer is the 6th most common cause of cancer related death in UK women. The majority of women are diagnosed late, and only 46 out of every 100 UK women survive for 5 years after diagnosis. Early diagnosis is likely to result in better patient outcomes including survival. However, early diagnosis is challenging. The symptoms of ovarian cancer are vague and the same symptoms occur in non-worrying medical conditions, so it is can be difficult for GPs to decide which patients require urgent referral to hospital and which can be reassured. Read more

Updated 17/02/2020 FSC