Research Papers & Publications
Research
The RCGP Research &
Surveillance Centre maintains a continuing programme of
research in a wide and varied number of fields. Historically,
the Centre has collaborated with many institutions and
organisations including the European Influenza Surveillance Scheme,
Health Protection Agency (formerly the Public Health Laboratory
Service), Meteorological Office, Department of Health, various
academic departments, Prescription Pricing Authority and
pharmaceutical companies. The Centre is most renowned for its
work on respiratory diseases, particularly those caused by viruses
such as influenza and respiratory syncytial virus. Other
areas of particular interest include infectious and intestinal
diseases, asthma, allergic rhinitis (hay fever) chickenpox and
herpes zoster (shingles). The Centre welcomes informal
discussions and proposals for future collaborations from outside
sources.
Below are listed a number
of special reports and the most recent publications produced by the
Centre.
Special
Reports
Our information leaflet, The Birmingham Research Unit, details
the work of the Centre over the last 40 years. (pdf,
290Kb)
The Electronic Health Indicator Data
(eHID) project is an EU funded project concerned with recording
in-patient electronic medical records in a way that optimised the
use of records for epidemiology. The project involved several
networks throughout Europe including the RCGP Research &
Surveillance Centre. (pdf, 516Kb)
A Winter's Tale provides
detailed information on general respiratory diseases and the
problems they can cause to primary and secondary health care
resources. (pdf, 1.7Mb)
The Occupational Morbidity Report is a
joint project with the Health & Safety Executive which aims to
obtain information on the frequency of various kinds of illness in
different occupations and, from the results, identify specific
links between illness and occupation. (pdf, 1.8Mb)
Publications (2004 – 2010)
1. Fleming DM,
Verlander NQ, Elliot AJ. An assessment of the effect of
statin use on the incidence of acute respiratory infections in
England during winters 1998-1999 to 2005-2006. Epidemiol Infect.
2010 Jan 29:1-8. [Medline]
2.
Fleming DM, Andrews NJ, Ellis JS. Estimating influenza
vaccine effectiveness using routinely collected laboratory
data. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2009 Nov 12.
[Medline]
3. Johnson
BF, Johnson BG, Wilson LE. Fatal cases of influenza in
childhood. PLoS IOne. 2009 Oct 20;4(10) [Medline]
4. Fleming DM, Miles J.
The representativeness of sentinel practice networks. J Public
Health (Oxf). 2009 Sept 15. [Medline]
5. Fleming DM, Elliot AJ,
Meijer A. Influenza virus resistance to oseltamivir:
what are the implications? Eur J Public Health. 2009
June;19(3):238-9
[Medline]
6. Fleming DM, Elliot AJ,
Cross KW. Seasonality and trends in the incidence and
prevalence of gout in England and Wales 1994-2207. Ann Rheum Dis.
2009 Nov;68(11):1728-33 [Medline]
7. Fleming DM, Elliot
AJ. Health benefits, risks, and cost-effectiveness of
influenza vaccination in children. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2008
Nov;27(11 Supple): S154-8.[Medline]
8. Fleming DM,
Iturriza-Fomera K, Elliot AJ. Structured surveillance of
infectious intestinal disease in pre-school children in the
community: 'The Nappy Study'. Epidemiol Infect. 2009
Jul;137(7):922-31.[Medline]
9. Fleming DM. Does it
really matter? Evaluating the Continuous Morbidity
Registation-the Nijmegen project. Eur J Gen Pract. 2008;14
Suppl 1:63-4 [Medline]
10. Elliot AJ, Fleming
DM. Viral infections and acute otitis media in young
children. Clin Infect Dis. 2008 Jul 1;47(1):146-7.
[Medline]
11. Elliot AJ, Fleming DM.
Influenza and respiratory syncytial virus in the elderly. Expert
Rev Vaccines (accepted Jan 2008). [Medline]
12. Elliot AJ, Cross KW, Fleming DM.
Acute respiratory infections and winter pressures on hospital
admissions in England and Wales 1990-2005. J Pubic Health (accepted
Dec 2007). [Medline]
13. Fleming DM,
Elliot AJ. Respiratory syncytial virus: a sleeping giant? Eur
Respir J. 2007;30(6):1029-31.
[Medline]
14. Fleming DM, Elliot AJ. Lessons
from 40 years' surveillance of influenza in England and Wales.
Epidemiol Infect. 2007;doi:10.1017/S0950268807009910.
[Medline]
15. Cooper DL, Verlander N, Joseph C, Elliot
AJ, Smith GE. Can syndromic thresholds provide early warning of
national influenza outbreaks? J Pubic Health;
doi:10.1093/pubmed/fdm068.
[Medline]
16. Fleming DM. The state of play in the
battle against antimicrobial resistance: a general practitioner
perspective. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2007;60 Suppl 1:i49-52.
[Medline]
17. Fleming DM, Elliot AJ, Kendall H. Skin
infections and antibiotic prescribing: a comparison of surveillance
and prescribing data. Br J Gen Pract. 2007;57(540):569-73.
[Medline]
18. Downs AM, Ross AM, Fleming DM, Coles
GC. A downturn in the incidence of head lice infestation? Int J
Dermatol. 2007;46(6):660-1.
[Medline]19. Arkema JM, Meerhoff TJ, Paget WJ,
Meijer A, Ansaldi F, Buchholz U, Fleming D, Nicoll A, van der
Velden J. Seasonal influenza activity in Europe: declining in most
countries in the West but increasing in the North-East. Euro
Surveill. 2007;12(3):E070308.3.
[Medline] [Free Full
Text]
20.Olowokure B, Clarke L, Elliot AJ, Harding
D, Fleming A. Mumps and the media: changes in the reporting of
mumps in response to newspaper coverage. J Epidemiol Commun Health
2007;61:385-388.
[Medline]
21. Arkema JM, Paget WJ, Meijer A,
Meerhoff TJ, Ansaldi F, Buchholz U, Fleming D, Nicoll A, van der
Velden J. Seasonal influenza beginning in Europe: report from EISS.
Euro Surveill. 2007;12(1):E070125.3.
[Medline] [Free Full
Text]
22. Fleming DM, Elliot AJ.
Correspondence; epidemic influenza and vitamin D. Epidemiol Infect
2007;135(7):1091-2.
[Medline]
23. Fleming DM, Elliot AJ. The
management of acute bronchitis in children. Expert Opin
Pharmacother. 2007;8(4):415-26.
[Medline]
24. Fleming DM, Elliot AJ, Cross
KW. Morbidity profiles of patients consulting during influenza and
respiratory syncytial virus active periods. Epidemiol Infect
2007;135(7):1099-108.
[Medline]
25 Fleming DM, Elliot AJ. Changing
disease incidence: the consulting room perspective. Brit J Gen
Pract 2006;56(532):820-824.
[Medline]
26. Simms I, Fleming DM,
Lowndes CM, Smith GE, Chapman RS. Surveillance of sexually
transmitted diseases in general practice: a description of trends
in the Royal College of General Practitioners Weekly Returns
Service between 1994 and 2001. Int J STD AIDS 2006;17(10):693-8.
[Medline]
27. Deckers JG, Schellevis
FG, Fleming DM. WHO diagnostic criteria as a validation tool for
the diagnosis of diabetes mellitus: A study in five European
countries. Eur J Gen Pract 2006;12(3):108-113.
[Medline]
28. Elliot AJ, Fleming DM.
Surveillance of influenza-like illness in England and Wales during
1967-2006. Euro Surveill 2006;11(10):249-250.".
[Medline] [Free Full
Text]
29. Elliot AJ, Cross KW,
Smith GE, Burgess IF, Fleming DM. The association between impetigo,
insect bites and air temperature: a retrospective 5-year study
(1999-2003) using morbidity data collected from a sentinel general
practice network database. Fam Pract 2006;23:490-496.
[Medline]
30. Fleming DM, Crovari P,
Wahn U, Klemola T, Schlesinger Y, Langussis A, Oymar K, Garcia ML,
Krygier A, Costa H, Heininger U, Pregaldien JL, Cheng SM, Skinner
J, Razmpour A, Saville M, Gruber WC, Forrest B; CAIV-T Asthma Study
Group. Comparison of the efficacy and safety of live attenuated
cold-adapted influenza vaccine, trivalent, with trivalent
inactivated influenza virus vaccine in children and adolescents
with asthma. Pediatr Infect Dis J 2006;25(10):860-869.
[Medline]
31 Meerhoff TJ, Fleming D,
Smith A, Mosnier A, van Gageldonk-Lafeber AB, Paget WJ.
Surveillance recommendations based on an exploratory analysis of
respiratory syncytial virus reports derived from the European
Influenza Surveillance System. BMC Infect Dis 2006;6:128.
[Medline] [Free Full
Text]
32. Viboud C, Tam T, Fleming
D, Handel A, Miller MA, Simonsen L. Transmissibility and mortality
impact of epidemic and pandemic influenza, with emphasis on the
unusually deadly 1951 epidemic. Vaccine. 2006;24(44-46):6701-7.
[Medline]
33. Fleming DM, Elliot AJ.
Estimating the risk population in relation to influenza vaccination
policy. Vaccine 2006;24(20):4378-85.
[Medline]
34 Viboud C, Tam T, Fleming
D, Miller MA, Simonsen L. 1951 influenza epidemic, England and
Wales, Canada, and the United States. Emerg Infect Dis
2006;12(4):661-8.
[Medline]
35. Deckers JG, Paget WJ,
Schellevis FG, Fleming DM. European primary care surveillance
networks: their structure and operation. Fam Pract
2006;23(2):151-8.
[Medline]
36. Pannell RS, Fleming DM,
Cross KW. The incidence of molluscum contagiosum, scabies and
lichen planus. Epidemiol Infect 2005;133(6):985-91.
[Medline]
37. Fleming D. Influenza
pandemics and avian flu. BMJ 2005;331(7524):1066-9.
[Medline]
38. Gani R, Hughes H, Fleming
D, Griffin T, Medlock J, Leach S. Potential impact of antiviral
drug use during influenza pandemic. Emerg Infect Dis.
2005;11(9):1355-62.
[Medline] [Free Full
Text]
39. Fleming DM, Cross KW,
Barley MA. Recent changes in the prevalence of diseases presenting
for health care. Br J Gen Pract 2005;55(517):589-95.
[Medline]
[Free Full Text]
40. Fleming DM, Elliot AJ.
The impact of influenza on the health and health care utilisation
of elderly people. Vaccine 2005.
[Medline]
41. Fleming DM, Pannell RS,
Elliot AJ, Cross KW. Respiratory illness associated with influenza
and respiratory syncytial virus infection. Arch Dis Child 2005.
[Medline] [Free Full
Text]
42 Fleming DM, Pannell RS, Cross
KW. Mortality in children from influenza and respiratory syncytial
virus. J Epidemiol Community Health 2005;59(7):586-90.
[Medline] [Free Full
Text]
43. Fleming DM, Ross AM,
Cross KW, Kendall H, Elliot AJ. Concerning: 'Why has antibiotic
prescribing for respiratory illness declined in primary care? A
longitudinal study using the General Practice Research Database'. J
Public Health (Oxf) 2005;27(2):228-9.
[Medline]
44. Fleming DM, Cross KW,
Pannell RS. Influenza and its relationship to circulatory
disorders. Epidemiol Infect 2005;133(2):255-62.
[Medline]
45 Fleming DM, Elliot AJ.
Children with 'flu: not to be sniffed at. Br J Gen Pract
2005;55(512):231-2.
[Medline]
[Free Full Text]
46. Fleming DM, Soler JK.
Using electronic medical records for research. Eur J Gen Pract
2005;11(1):2-4.
[Medline]
47. Donker GA, Fleming DM,
Schellevis FG, Spreeuwenberg P. Differences in treatment regimes,
consultation frequency and referral patterns of diabetes mellitus
in general practice in five European countries. Fam Pract
2004;21(4):364-9.
[Medline] [Free
Full Text]
48. Davey P, Donnan P,
Fleming D, Wise R, Woodhead M. Association between antibiotic
prescribing trends in general practice and community-acquired
pneumonia mortality. Respir Med 2004;98(8):798-800; author reply
1-3.
[Medline]
49. Ross A, Fleming D.
Hayfever--practical management issues. Br J Gen Pract
2004;54(503):412-4.
[Medline]
[Free Full Text]
50. Woodhead M, Fleming D,
Wise R. Antibiotics, resistance, and clinical outcomes. BMJ
2004;328(7451):1270-1.
[Medline] [Free
Full Text]
51. Sunderland RS, Fleming
DM. Continuing decline in acute asthma episodes in the community.
Arch Dis Child 2004;89(3):282-5.
[Medline] [Free Full
Text]
52. Fleming DM, Barley MA,
Chapman RS. Surveillance of the bioterrorist threat: a primary care
response. Commun Dis Public Health 2004;7(1):68-72.
[Medline]
53. Fleming DM, Schellevis
FG, Van Casteren V. The prevalence of known diabetes in eight
European countries. Eur J Public Health 2004;14(1):10-4.
[Medline]
54. Harcourt SE, Edwards DE,
Fleming DM, Smith RL, Smith GE. How representative is the
population covered by the RCGP spotter practice scheme? Using
Geographical Information Systems to assess. J Public Health (Oxf)
2004;26(1):88-94.
[Medline]
55. Fleming DM, Cross KW,
Cobb WA, Chapman RS. Gender difference in the incidence of
shingles. Epidemiol Infect 2004;132(1):1-5.
[Medline]
56. Fleming DM, Bartelds A,
Chapman RS, Cross KW. The consistency of shingles and its
significance for health monitoring. Eur J Epidemiol
2004;19(12):1113-8.
[Medline]
This page was last updated on 23rd February 2010.