Rachel Coleman
I am an SSA funded PhD student studying at the University of Hull under the supervision of Professor Thomas Phillips and Professor Simon Coulton, University of Kent. My research area focuses on exploring the measurement and management of alcohol withdrawal in the acute general hospital setting, with the aim of developing a series of tools to support general medical wards in caring for patients experiencing alcohol withdrawal.
I hold a BSc in Psychology from the University of Sheffield, an MSc in Health Research from the University of Leeds and my MSc by Research in Health Sciences from the University of York is pending. I have extensive experience of working within Addictions Research on a number of national clinical trials and have spent time working as a researcher embedded within a Community Alcohol Team. I have experience of working across several substance misuse services across Yorkshire & the Humber to engage with teams, recruit study participants and carry out research tasks. I am passionate about improving scientific understanding of addictions and developing ‘real world’ solutions to support care of individuals experiencing alcohol dependence. I look forward to joining the alcohol research group at the Institute for Clinical and Applied Health Research at the University of Hull from September 2020.
PhD Symposium: Using hospital episode statistics to explore comorbidities in primary alcohol withdrawal admissions to acute hospitals in England
Aims
Alcohol withdrawal (AW) admissions to acute hospitals are increasing, and understanding the level of comorbidity for these patients is important to ensure appropriate management. We therefore aim to use routinely collected NHS Data to explore the clinical comorbidities presenting in primary AW admissions to acute hospitals in England.
Methods
We applied for and were granted access to all admitted patient care (APC) data for 2017/2018 via NHS Digital. Admissions are comprised of 1 or more Finished Consultant Episode (FCE), for which there are up to 20 individual ICD-10 diagnoses. Cases were selected if the primary ICD-10 diagnosis was AW (F10.3), and associations with ICD-10 Chapter Headings subsequently explored.
Results
There were 9,578 primary AW admissions in 2017/2018, with 62,918 ICD-10 diagnoses coded within the first FCE. Six associations with primary AW were identified: alcoholic liver disease (OR 20.70; 95% CI 19.49-21.99; z=98.66; P=<0.001); symptoms, signs and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings not elsewhere classified (OR 2.07; 95% CI 1.99-2.16; z=33.83; P=<0.001); nervous system diseases (OR 1.40; 95% CI 1.32-1.49; z=11.00; P=<0.001); injury, poisoning and consequences of external causes (OR 1.21; 95% CI 1.12-1.30; z=5.11; P=<0.001); endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases (OR 1.20; 95% CI 1.14-1.26; z=7.09; P=<0.001); and factors influencing health status and contact with health services (OR 1.11; 95% CI 1.07-1.16; z=4.94; P=<0.001)
Conclusions
This work supports identification of comorbid conditions positively associated with primary AW Admissions and can be used to inform the development of Alcohol Care Teams, as part of NHS England’s Long Term Plan.