Posted: Sun 28th Feb 2021
Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board taking part in major study into long-term health effects of COVID-19
Clinicians and researchers across Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board are taking part in a national study into the long-term health impacts of COVID-19 for patients who were hospitalised with the disease.
The Post-Hospitalisation COVID-19 Study (PHOSP-COVID), is supported by the Research Team at the Health Board through Health and Care Research Wales.
The local Principle Investigator for the study is Dr Ahmed Abou-Haggar and is led by the NIHR Leicester Biomedical Research Centre.
The study is the largest of its kind to investigate the health of people who have been hospitalised as a result of COVID-19. It aims to better understand the long-term impacts of the virus to help improve their recovery.
People with asthma in deprived areas have worse outcomes, study reveals
Feb 17 2021
People with asthma in the most deprived areas are 50% more likely to be admitted to hospital and to die from asthma compared with those in the least deprived areas, a new five-year study of over 100,000 people in Wales has revealed.
Those from more deprived backgrounds were also found to have a poor balance of essential asthma medications that help prevent asthma attacks.
The new research, published in the journal
PLOS Medicine, was conducted by Swansea University s Wales Asthma Observatory in collaboration with Asthma UK Centre for Applied Research and Liverpool University, and found that people with asthma in deprived areas of Wales have worse outcomes.
Stock photo of doctor and patient A NEW clinical trial could lead to less toxic treatment for blood cancer. Cardiff and Vale University Health Board is implementing a new clinical trial which will give blood cancer patients access to a promising, active lower intensity treatment option. The VICTOR clinical trial, which is funded by Cancer Research UK and led by Dr Richard Dillon from Guy’s Hospital in London, will examine the efficacy of venetoclax-based treatment in treating certain groups of older patients with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). If found to be effective, the treatment could spare future patients some of the more toxic effects of traditional intensive chemotherapy.
North Wales emergency departments join study on instant testing for Covid-19
This article is old - Published: Saturday, Jan 2nd, 2021
Emergency departments in North Wales are taking part in a study to assess the effectiveness of tests that may give doctors Covid-19 results within minutes rather than hours.
The Facilitating Accelerated Clinical Evaluation of Novel Diagnostic Tests for Covid-19 (FALCON) study aims to find out how accurate new and faster tests are so that patients and staff can be cared for as safely as possible.
The current tests rely on a lengthy laboratory process to detect the presence of the virus.
Volunteers aged 18 and over were invited to take part in the trial, with many participants from health and care settings, including staff in hospitals, GP practices, pharmacy, physiotherapy, community care and other non-clinical professions within secondary care who were deemed at risk of exposure to coronavirus. In May, Professor Sue Bale, director of research and development at Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, said the vaccine trial could be the key to unlocking the restrictions which are placed around our lives. And with Wales currently subject to tier four lockdown restrictions, rollout to the new vaccine, in addition to the 25,000 doses of Pfizer vaccines which have already been administered in Wales since its approval, could not have come at a better time.