Core Outcome Sets for Sinusitis (COS- SIN) and Tonsillitis (COS-TON)
What is this project about?
This study aims to develop Core Outcome Sets (COS) relevant to the treatment of sinusitis and tonsillitis for use in future studies. A COS aims to create core outcomes that should be measured and reported in all controlled trials of a specific condition. Using this COS will help research in primary care infection be more consistent and improve the gathering of combined evidence in future research and practice. As a result, the risk of outcome reporting bias and heterogeneity is reduced, and the potential for meta-analysis for key outcomes is increased
Research Group
- Dr Esther van der Werf, Homeopathy Research Institute, London, UK
- Dr Alyson Huntley, Centre for Academic Primary Care, Bristol Medical School, Bristol, UK
- Dr Rachel Perry, The National Institute for Health and Care Research Applied Research Collaboration West (NIHR ARC West) at University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust, UK
- Professor Thomas Ostermann, Department for Psychology, Faculty of Health,
University of Witten/Herdecke, Germany.
Why is this project important?
Respiratory tract infections, such as sinusitis and tonsillitis, are important to patients,
parents/carers, the public and the health care system because:
- The infection causes pain and distress to the patient (and parents/carers);
- It often results in health service appointments.
- Inappropriate antibiotic use for common primary care infections can lead to
antimicrobial resistance
A wide range of signs and symptoms (outcomes) are measured in primary care infection research, for example, symptom severity, pain, fever and antibiotic use. Differences in reporting can hinders the ability to obtain an overview of the current research evidence.
