Outputs

We recently published our results which describe the serotypes (strains) of pneumococcus associated with adult respiratory infection. This important work will help assess whether vaccines against pneumococcus may be effective in preventing pneumonia in adults, as pneumococcus remains an important cause of pneumonia following the COVID19 pandemic. Click here to read it!

Relative vaccine effectiveness of mRNA COVID-19 boostersin people aged at least 75 years during the spring-summer (monovalent vaccine) and autumn-winter (bivalent vaccine) booster campaigns: a prospective test negative case–control study, United Kingdom, 2022

Understanding the additional protection offered by COVID-19 boosters against SARS-CoV-2 infection is an urgent public health priority. We therefore compared the protection against hospitalisation provided by the two vaccines used in the booster campaigns in the United Kingdom in 2022: the original monovalent mRNA vaccine versus the bivalent mRNA booster targeting both the original virus strain and the Omicron BA.1 variant. Click here to find out more!

Association of ABO and Rhesus blood groups with severe outcomes from non-SARS-CoV-2 respiratory infection: A prospective observational cohort study in Bristol, UK 2020–2022

Despite significant global morbidity associated with respiratory infection, there is a paucity of data examining the association between severity of non-SARS-CoV-2 respiratory infection and blood group. We undertook an analysis from AvonCAP that provides some evidence that blood group status may influence clinical outcome following respiratory infection, with group A having increased risk of hospitalisation and RhD-positive patients having reduced cardiovascular complications. Click here to read it!

Serotype Distribution and Disease Severity in Adults Hospitalized with Streptococcus pneumoniae Infection, Bristol and Bath, UK, 2006‒2022

Pneumococcal infection is a major cause of morbidity and mortality, but adult disease may be changing due to the UK vaccine programme and emergence of SARS-CoV-2. We analysed disease in Bristol and Bath from 2006-2022 to determine what strains were causing adults to be hospitalised, and determine if disease severity is changing. The results are published in Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Impact of SARS-CoV-2 infective exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease on clinical outcomes in a prospective cohort study of hospitalised adults has now been published in Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine

Patients with COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) may have poor outcomes when they are hospitalised with a respiratory deterioration in their condition. However, it is unclear if infection with COVID-19 results in worse outcomes than infection with another pathogen. We tried to address this question in our analysis, published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. Read about it here.

Severity of Omicron (B.1.1.529) and Delta (B.1.617.2) SARS-CoV-2 infection among hospitalised adults: a prospective cohort study in Bristol, United Kingdom has now been published in The Lancet Regional Health – Europe

There is an urgent public health need to evaluate disease severity in adults hospitalised with Delta and Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant infections. However, limited data exist assessing severity of disease in adults hospitalised with Omicron SARS-CoV-2 infections, and to what extent patient-factors, including vaccination, age, frailty and pre-existing disease, affect variant-dependent disease severity. We found reassuring evidence that Omicron infection results in less serious adverse outcomes than Delta in hospitalised patients. Despite lower severity relative to Delta, Omicron infection still resulted in substantial patient and public health burden and an increased admission rate of older patients with Omicron which counteracts some of the benefit arising from less severe disease.

If you’re interested in finding out more, read our published paper here.

Effectiveness of BNT162b2 COVID-19 vaccination in prevention of hospitalisations and severe disease in adults with SARS-CoV-2 Delta (B.1.617.2) and Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant between June 2021 and July 2022: a prospective test negative case-control study has now been published in The Lancet Regional Health – Europe

Whilst other studies have reported the effectiveness of mRNA vaccination against hospitalisation, including emergency department or intensive care admission, few have assessed effectiveness against other more clinically robust indices of COVID-19 severity. We found BNT162b2 vaccination results in risk reductions for hospitalisation and multiple patient outcomes following Delta and Omicron COVID-19 infection, particularly in older adults. BNT162b2 remains effective against severe SARS-CoV-2 disease.

If you’re interested in finding out more, read our published paper here.

Novel approach to estimating the local population denominator for disease incidence calculations

Studies estimating disease incidence often use geographical factors. However, there is no standard method for defining the catchment area for a hospital, which is needed to be able to use this data to accurately estimate disease incidence in a population. We devised a new way of estimating local disease incidence in Bristol, UK from the AvonCAP study. In this approach, historical data on patient healthcare use allows more accurate determination of a hospital catchment, so increasing the estimate of disease incidence.

If you’re interested to find out more, please read our published version here.

COVID-19 Vaccine Effectiveness Estimate – One Dose Vaccine in Older Adults

The AvonCAP study undertook an analysis using a case-control approach to evaluate the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines. The results provided further evidence that one dose of both Pfizer and Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccination are effective both in an older age-group less studied in the trials and for an outcome which was rarer in the trials than in ‘real-world’ use, namely hospitalisations.

Please take a look at the AvonCAP Infectious Disease Lancet Paper (PDF, 630kB) for the full story!

Acute Lower Respiratory Tract Disease Incidence 2020-21

Accurate and up to date acute lower respiratory tract disease (aLRTD) incidence is important to determine whether vaccines against infections such as COVID19, pneumococcus and respiratory syncytial virus would be effective in reducing disease. As COVID19 has changed respiratory infections, we undertook an analysis to estimate disease in adults admitted to hospital in Bristol. We found that although COVID19 was an important and large component of total aLRTD in hospitalised patients during the pandemic, there was also a large incidence of non-COVID19 respiratory disease. Despite public health interventions to reduce respiratory infection, disease incidence remains high.

If you're interested in finding out more, please read our paper here.

You can also read the UoB press release here.

Incidence of acute lower respiratory tract disease hospitalisation 2019

The AvonCAP study undertook feasibility work before the COVID-19 pandemic, which provided an estimate of acute lower respiratory tract disease (aLRTD) incidence in Bristol. The study found that disease incidence was high, and probably higher than previous UK estimates due to differences in the way the cases are identified and counted.

If you're interested in finding out more, read our paper here.

Use of illness severity scores to predict mortality in interstitial lung disease patients hospitalised with acute respiratory deterioration

The latest analysis from AvonCAP, which shows that the widely used NEWS-2 severity score shows some promise in predicting mortality following hospitalisation with acute respiratory illness in patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD).