Keele

Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is a form of large vessel vasculitis effecting older people. It can cause serious complications, including blindness. Rapid treatment is required, but when symptoms do not present in a typical pattern, recognition and timely treatment can be difficult. This internship will build on previous work using primary care records (from the Clincial Practice Research Datalink, CPRD) of people with and without a diagnosis of GCA to understand whether results of common investigations (e.g. blood tests) can be used to increase the suspicion of GCA in people presenting to primary care.

We already have a dataset in which we have looked at two investigations (blood pressure, haemoglobin). Before the internship starts, we will gain permissions from CPRD to extend this project to include other common investigations (e.g. ferritin, platelets) and develop clincial code lists. The intern will work with the lead supervisor to extract the results of the investigations from the CPRD dataset, process them and compare the frequency of test requests and abnormal findings between those with and without GCA.

Background:

Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) is an inflammatory condition predominantly affecting those aged over 50 years, typically treated with glucocorticoids (GCs). Due to GC side effects, including weight gain, and persistent symptoms, patients are often keen to explore other potential treatment options.

Investigating the value of non-pharmacological therapies (e.g. diet and exercise) in PMR has been highlighted as a research priority in 2015 international guideline recommendations. This project will explore what type of lifestyle (e.g. exercise, physical activity, diet, weight) interventions are suggested to be valuable or are used by people living with PMR to inform the future development of a lifestyle intervention.

Research question:
What lifestyle advice is recommended/used by people living with Polymyalgia Rheumatica.

Aim of project:
To identify lifestyle interventions which are recommended for or used by people living with Polymyalgia Rheumatica.

Objectives of project and internship: The successful applicant will:-
1) Undertake scoping review training.
2) Complete a scoping review protocol addressing the research question.
3) Undertake the scoping review as per JBI Evidence Synthesis JBI Evidence Synthesis of published and grey literature relating to people with PMR.
4) Summarise findings in a report.
5) Present findings in a supportive research environment
6) Draft a journal article describing project findings and implications for practice.
7) Be supported throughout by experienced allied health professional educators.

The intern will have the opportunity to present at a Patient and Public Involvement meeting facilitated by the SPCR to discuss their project with public contributors.