ARC West research features twice in the BJGP’s top five papers for 2019

Two research papers by Jessica Watson, a GP and National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Doctoral Research Fellow, came third and fifth in the British Journal of General Practice (BJGP) list of most read papers in 2019.

Both papers reported on research into the effectiveness of inflammatory marker tests in aiding diagnosis in general practice. Inflammatory marker tests are blood tests that detect inflammation in the body, which might be caused by infections, autoimmune conditions or cancers.

The first paper reported that inflammatory marker tests, which are commonly used in general practice, should not be used to rule out serious conditions, as they are not sensitive enough to be reliably used in this way. The second paper reported that doing multiple inflammatory marker tests, also common practice, does not increase diagnostic accuracy, and should be avoided.

This research was an offshoot of Dr Watson’s doctoral research, undertaken with colleagues at the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration West (ARC West). Dr Watson is also an NIHR Senior Clinical Research Fellow at the Centre for Academic Primary Care (CAPC), University of Bristol.

Dr Watson said:

“When we test inflammatory markers in primary care we need to be clear what we are looking for. Our study shows inflammatory markers have a low sensitivity so this means that they are not suitable as a general rule-out for serious disease.”

At number two in the BJGP list was a qualitative research paper by Polly Duncan, a GP and National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) In-practice Senior Clinical Research Fellow at CAPC, which explored GP and pharmacist’s views on how medication reviews are conducted in primary care.

The BJGP is an international primary care journal publishing research, debate and analysis, and clinical guidance for family practitioners and researchers worldwide. The journal is sent to over 50,000 clinicians and researchers each month. The BJGP’s impact factor for 2018 is 4.434, top of the primary care rankings, and giving the journal the highest impact in primary care research worldwide.

For information on all the top ranked papers, see the BJGP video.