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Fitchett, Joseph

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Fitchett

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Fitchett, Joseph
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    Mapping pneumonia research: A systematic analysis of UK investments and published outputs 1997–2013
    (Elsevier, 2015) Head, Michael G.; Fitchett, Joseph; Newell, Marie-Louise; Scott, J. Anthony G.; Harris, Jennifer N.; Clarke, Stuart C.; Atun, Rifat
    Background: The burden of pneumonia continues to be substantial, particularly among the poorest in global society. We describe here the trends for UK pneumonia R&D investment and published outputs, and correlate with 2013 global mortality. Methods: Data related to awards to UK institutions for pneumonia research from 1997 to 2013 were systematically sourced and categorised by disease area and type of science. Investment was compared to mortality figures in 2010 and 2013 for pneumonia, tuberculosis and influenza. Investment was also compared to publication data. Results: Of all infectious disease research between 2011 and 2013 (£917.0 million), £28.8 million (3.1%) was for pneumonia. This was an absolute and proportionate increase from previous time periods. Translational pneumonia research (33.3%) received increased funding compared with 1997–2010 where funding was almost entirely preclinical (87.5%, here 30.9%), but high-burden areas such as paediatrics, elderly care and antimicrobial resistance received little investment. Annual investment remains volatile; publication temporal trends show a consistent increase. When comparing investment to global burden with a novel ‘investment by mortality observed’ metric, tuberculosis (£48.36) and influenza (£484.21) receive relatively more funding than pneumonia (£43.08), despite investment for pneumonia greatly increasing in 2013 compared to 2010 (£7.39). Limitations include a lack of private sector data and the need for careful interpretation of the comparisons with burden, plus categorisation is subjective. Conclusions: There has been a welcome increase for pneumonia funding awarded to UK institutions in 2011–2013 compared with 1997–2010, along with increases for more translational research. Published outputs relating to pneumonia rose steadily from 1997 to 2013. Investment relative to mortality for pneumonia has increased, but it remains low compared to other respiratory infections and clear inequities remain. Analyses that measure investments in pneumonia can provide an insight into funding trends and research gaps. Research in context Pneumonia continues to be a high-burden illness around the globe. This paper shows that although research funding is increasing in the UK (between 1997 and 2013), it remains poorly funded compared to other important respiratory infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and influenza. Publications about pneumonia have been steadily increasing over time, indicating continuing academic and clinical interest in the topic. Though global mortality of pneumonia is declining, it should still be an area of high priority for funders, policymakers and researchers.
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    Comparing research investment to United Kingdom institutions and published outputs for tuberculosis, HIV and malaria: a systematic analysis across 1997–2013
    (BioMed Central, 2015) Head, Michael G.; Fitchett, Joseph; Derrick, Gemma; Wurie, Fatima B.; Meldrum, Jonathan; Kumari, Nina; Beattie, Benjamin; Counts, Christopher J.; Atun, Rifat
    Background: The “Unfinished Agenda” of infectious diseases is of great importance to policymakers and research funding agencies that require ongoing research evidence on their effective management. Journal publications help effectively share and disseminate research results to inform policy and practice. We assess research investments to United Kingdom institutions in HIV, tuberculosis and malaria, and analyse these by numbers of publications and citations and by disease and type of science. Methods: Information on infection-related research investments awarded to United Kingdom institutions across 1997–2010 were sourced from funding agencies and individually categorised by disease and type of science. Publications were sourced from the Scopus database via keyword searches and filtered to include only publications relating to human disease and containing a United Kingdom-based first and/or last author. Data were matched by disease and type of science categories. Investment (United Kingdom pounds) and publications were compared to generate an ‘investment per publication’ metric; similarly, an ‘investment per citation’ metric was also developed as a measure of the usefulness of research. Results: Total research investment for all three diseases was £1.4 billion, and was greatest for HIV (£651.4 million), followed by malaria (£518.7 million) and tuberculosis (£239.1 million). There were 17,271 included publications, with 9,322 for HIV, 4,451 for malaria, and 3,498 for tuberculosis. HIV publications received the most citations (254,949), followed by malaria (148,559) and tuberculosis (100,244). According to UK pound per publication, tuberculosis (£50,691) appeared the most productive for investment, compared to HIV (£61,971) and malaria (£94,483). By type of science, public health research was most productive for HIV (£27,296) and tuberculosis (£22,273), while phase I–III trials were most productive for malaria (£60,491). According to UK pound per citation, tuberculosis (£1,797) was the most productive area for investment, compared to HIV (£2,265) and malaria (£2,834). Public health research was the most productive type of science for HIV (£2,265) and tuberculosis (£1,797), whereas phase I–III trials were most productive for malaria (£1,713). Conclusions: When comparing total publications and citations with research investment to United Kingdom institutions, tuberculosis research appears to perform best in terms of efficiency. There were more public health-related publications and citations for HIV and tuberculosis than other types of science. These findings demonstrate the diversity of research funding and outputs, and provide new evidence to inform research investment strategies for policymakers, funders, academic institutions, and healthcare organizations. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12961-015-0052-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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    Investments in sexually transmitted infection research, 1997–2013: a systematic analysis of funding awarded to UK institutions
    (Edinburgh University Global Health Society, 2015) Head, Michael G; Fitchett, Joseph; Cassell, Jackie A; Atun, Rifat
    Background: We report the first study that analyses public and philanthropic investments awarded to UK institutions for research related to sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Methods: We systematically searched award data from the major funders for information on all infectious disease research funding awarded in 1997–2013. The STI–related projects were identified and categorised by pathogen, disease and type of science along the research pipeline from preclinical to translational research. Findings: We identified 7393 infection–related awards with total investment of GBP 3.5 billion. Of these, 1238 awards (16.7%) covering funding of GBP 719.1 million (20.5%) were for STI research. HIV as an STI received GBP 465 million across 719 studies; non–HIV STIs received GBP 139 million across 378 studies. The Medical Research Council provided greatest investment (GBP 193 million for HIV, GBP 45 million for non–HIV STIs). Preclinical awards totalled GBP 233 million (37.1%), whilst translational research received GBP 286 million (39.7%). Substantial proportions of HIV investment addressed global health research (GBP 265 million), vaccinology (GBP 110 million) and therapeutics (GBP 202 million). For other STIs, investments focused on diagnostics (GBP 45 million) and global health (GBP 27 million). Human Papilloma Virus research received GBP 58 million and chlamydia GBP 24 million. Funding for non–HIV STIs has declined in the three most recent years of this data set. Conclusions: The investment for HIV research awarded to UK institutions correlates with the high global burden, but other STIs are relatively neglected, including gonorrhoea and syphilis. Future STI funding should be better aligned with burden while addressing the emerging risk of antimicrobial resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeae and outbreaks of other pathogens.
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    Non-surgical interventions for pelvic organ prolapse in rural Nepal: a prospective monitoring and evaluation study
    (SAGE Publications, 2015) Fitchett, Joseph; Bhatta, Surya; Sherpa, Tenzing Y; Malla, Bishwo S; A Fitchett, Elizabeth J; Samen, Arlene; Kristensen, Sibylle
    Objectives: Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) is a major cause of morbidity in Nepal, particularly affecting women in the rural communities. Women with POP in Nepal may suffer from symptoms for decades. At present, the Government of Nepal advocates surgical intervention but access to surgical care is inadequate. This report evaluated the feasibility of a non-surgical public health programme in rural Nepal, and describes risk factors associated with POP in this setting. Design: Prospective monitoring and evaluation study of a new public health programme. Setting: Baglung district, rural Nepal. Participants: Women with gynaecological symptoms of POP. Main outcome measures Risk factors for disease progression were assessed using Fisher’s exact test, Pearson’s χ2-test and logistic regression analysis. Results: Of the 74 women included in this analysis, 70.8% were diagnosed with stage 2 POP or greater. The majority of women did not have any further children following the onset of POP symptoms (63.5%). Duration of symptoms ranged from 2 months to 60 years, with 73.4% of women suffering for over 5 years and 28.4% suffering for over 20 years. Univariate analyses identified age at screening, age at onset of symptoms, the duration of symptoms and an associated rectocele as factors associated with increasing POP severity (p < 0.05). Kegel exercises were taught to 25 (33.8%) women with POP and ring pessaries were offered to 47 (63.5%) women with POP. Conclusions: Non-surgical interventions may provide an opportunity to address the significant burden of POP in rural Nepal.
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    Research Investments in Global Health: A Systematic Analysis of UK Infectious Disease Research Funding and Global Health Metrics, 1997–2013
    (Elsevier, 2015) Head, Michael G.; Fitchett, Joseph; Nageshwaran, Vaitehi; Kumari, Nina; Hayward, Andrew; Atun, Rifat
    Background: Infectious diseases account for a significant global burden of disease and substantial investment in research and development. This paper presents a systematic assessment of research investments awarded to UK institutions and global health metrics assessing disease burden. Methods: We systematically sourced research funding data awarded from public and philanthropic organisations between 1997 and 2013. We screened awards for relevance to infection and categorised data by type of science, disease area and specific pathogen. Investments were compared with mortality, disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) and years lived with disability (YLD) across three time points. Findings: Between 1997–2013, there were 7398 awards with a total investment of £3.7 billion. An increase in research funding across 2011–2013 was observed for most disease areas, with notable exceptions being sexually transmitted infections and sepsis research where funding decreased. Most funding remains for pre-clinical research (£2.2 billion, 59.4%). Relative to global mortality, DALYs and YLDs, acute hepatitis C, leishmaniasis and African trypanosomiasis received comparatively high levels of funding. Pneumonia, shigellosis, pertussis, cholera and syphilis were poorly funded across all health metrics. Tuberculosis (TB) consistently attracts relatively less funding than HIV and malaria. Interpretation Most infections have received increases in research investment, alongside decreases in global burden of disease in 2013. The UK demonstrates research strengths in some neglected tropical diseases such as African trypanosomiasis and leishmaniasis, but syphilis, cholera, shigellosis and pneumonia remain poorly funded relative to their global burden. Acute hepatitis C appears well funded but the figures do not adequately take into account projected future chronic burdens for this condition. These findings can help to inform global policymakers on resource allocation for research investment.
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    Antimicrobials: a global alliance for optimizing their rational use in intra-abdominal infections (AGORA)
    (BioMed Central, 2016) Sartelli, Massimo; Weber, Dieter G.; Ruppé, Etienne; Bassetti, Matteo; Wright, Brian J.; Ansaloni, Luca; Catena, Fausto; Coccolini, Federico; Abu-Zidan, Fikri M.; Coimbra, Raul; Moore, Ernest E.; Moore, Frederick A.; Maier, Ronald V.; De Waele, Jan J.; Kirkpatrick, Andrew W.; Griffiths, Ewen A.; Eckmann, Christian; Brink, Adrian J.; Mazuski, John E.; May, Addison K.; Sawyer, Rob G.; Mertz, Dominik; Montravers, Philippe; Kumar, Anand; Roberts, Jason A.; Vincent, Jean-Louis; Watkins, Richard R.; Lowman, Warren; Spellberg, Brad; Abbott, Iain J.; Adesunkanmi, Abdulrashid Kayode; Al-Dahir, Sara; Al-Hasan, Majdi N.; Agresta, Ferdinando; Althani, Asma A.; Ansari, Shamshul; Ansumana, Rashid; Augustin, Goran; Bala, Miklosh; Balogh, Zsolt J.; Baraket, Oussama; Bhangu, Aneel; Beltrán, Marcelo A.; Bernhard, Michael; Biffl, Walter L.; Boermeester, Marja A.; Brecher, Stephen M.; Cherry-Bukowiec, Jill R.; Buyne, Otmar R.; Cainzos, Miguel A.; Cairns, Kelly A.; Camacho-Ortiz, Adrian; Chandy, Sujith J.; Che Jusoh, Asri; Chichom-Mefire, Alain; Colijn, Caroline; Corcione, Francesco; Cui, Yunfeng; Curcio, Daniel; Delibegovic, Samir; Demetrashvili, Zaza; De Simone, Belinda; Dhingra, Sameer; Diaz, José J.; Di Carlo, Isidoro; Dillip, Angel; Di Saverio, Salomone; Doyle, Michael P.; Dorj, Gereltuya; Dogjani, Agron; Dupont, Hervé; Eachempati, Soumitra R.; Enani, Mushira Abdulaziz; Egiev, Valery N.; Elmangory, Mutasim M.; Ferrada, Paula; Fitchett, Joseph; Fraga, Gustavo P.; Guessennd, Nathalie; Giamarellou, Helen; Ghnnam, Wagih; Gkiokas, George; Goldberg, Staphanie R.; Gomes, Carlos Augusto; Gomi, Harumi; Guzmán-Blanco, Manuel; Haque, Mainul; Hansen, Sonja; Hecker, Andreas; Heizmann, Wolfgang R.; Herzog, Torsten; Hodonou, Adrien Montcho; Hong, Suk-Kyung; Kafka-Ritsch, Reinhold; Kaplan, Lewis J.; Kapoor, Garima; Karamarkovic, Aleksandar; Kees, Martin G.; Kenig, Jakub; Kiguba, Ronald; Kim, Peter K.; Kluger, Yoram; Khokha, Vladimir; Koike, Kaoru; Kok, Kenneth Y. Y.; Kong, Victory; Knox, Matthew C.; Inaba, Kenji; Isik, Arda; Iskandar, Katia; Ivatury, Rao R.; Labbate, Maurizio; Labricciosa, Francesco M.; Laterre, Pierre-François; Latifi, Rifat; Lee, Jae Gil; Lee, Young Ran; Leone, Marc; Leppaniemi, Ari; Li, Yousheng; Liang, Stephen Y.; Loho, Tonny; Maegele, Marc; Malama, Sydney; Marei, Hany E.; Martin-Loeches, Ignacio; Marwah, Sanjay; Massele, Amos; McFarlane, Michael; Melo, Renato Bessa; Negoi, Ionut; Nicolau, David P.; Nord, Carl Erik; Ofori-Asenso, Richard; Omari, AbdelKarim H.; Ordonez, Carlos A.; Ouadii, Mouaqit; Pereira Júnior, Gerson Alves; Piazza, Diego; Pupelis, Guntars; Rawson, Timothy Miles; Rems, Miran; Rizoli, Sandro; Rocha, Claudio; Sakakhushev, Boris; Sanchez-Garcia, Miguel; Sato, Norio; Segovia Lohse, Helmut A.; Sganga, Gabriele; Siribumrungwong, Boonying; Shelat, Vishal G.; Soreide, Kjetil; Soto, Rodolfo; Talving, Peep; Tilsed, Jonathan V.; Timsit, Jean-Francois; Trueba, Gabriel; Trung, Ngo Tat; Ulrych, Jan; van Goor, Harry; Vereczkei, Andras; Vohra, Ravinder S.; Wani, Imtiaz; Uhl, Waldemar; Xiao, Yonghong; Yuan, Kuo-Ching; Zachariah, Sanoop K.; Zahar, Jean-Ralph; Zakrison, Tanya L.; Corcione, Antonio; Melotti, Rita M.; Viscoli, Claudio; Viale, Perluigi
    Intra-abdominal infections (IAI) are an important cause of morbidity and are frequently associated with poor prognosis, particularly in high-risk patients. The cornerstones in the management of complicated IAIs are timely effective source control with appropriate antimicrobial therapy. Empiric antimicrobial therapy is important in the management of intra-abdominal infections and must be broad enough to cover all likely organisms because inappropriate initial antimicrobial therapy is associated with poor patient outcomes and the development of bacterial resistance. The overuse of antimicrobials is widely accepted as a major driver of some emerging infections (such as C. difficile), the selection of resistant pathogens in individual patients, and for the continued development of antimicrobial resistance globally. The growing emergence of multi-drug resistant organisms and the limited development of new agents available to counteract them have caused an impending crisis with alarming implications, especially with regards to Gram-negative bacteria. An international task force from 79 different countries has joined this project by sharing a document on the rational use of antimicrobials for patients with IAIs. The project has been termed AGORA (Antimicrobials: A Global Alliance for Optimizing their Rational Use in Intra-Abdominal Infections). The authors hope that AGORA, involving many of the world's leading experts, can actively raise awareness in health workers and can improve prescribing behavior in treating IAIs.