Research

Members of the Oxford Tobacco Addiction Group (OxTAG) are appraising the literature on using vapes to stop smoking and ways to stop vaping every month. They share the findings through two Cochrane living systematic reviews that are changing policy and practice internationally.

The Evidence Synthesis Working Group (ESWG) aims to produce high quality reviews that evaluate what works, in what situations, and for whom. The Group also identifies clinical and methodology gaps to inform future research, policy and develop robust practical interventions for primary care.

Since the 1990s, the prescribing of strong pain medicines called opioids has increased in England and most high-income countries. Oxford researchers review the global and national use of opioids and have developed tools to improve patient safety.

CEBM researchers are leading research to optimise the use of anticoagulants. The work includes a suite of systematic reviews, several of which have influenced national and international health policy and clinical guidelines.

Oxford Social Prescribing Research Network focuses on improving health and wellbeing through interdisciplinary evidence-based research, by exploring the different perspectives and health benefits of social prescribing, and the mechanisms of optimal services delivery.

The project, led by Georgia Richards, launched the Coroners’ Concerns to Prevent Harms series in BMJ Evidence Based Medicine to disseminate important lessons that serve patient safety and prevent similar deaths, leading to the creation of The Preventable Deaths Tracker.

Jamie Hartmann-Boyce, CEBM researcher and co-director of the EBHC DPhil programme, has reviewed the evidence exploring the risks of Covid-19 in people with diabetes.

Oral hormone pregnancy tests were given to over a million women in 20th Century, until they were withdrawn over safety concerns. Our systematic review uncovers a link between Primodos and congenital malformation.

Since 2014, the CEBM have been conducting research about the effects of neuraminidase inhibitors for treating symptoms of influenza. These activities have led to important changes in health policy and clinical practice.

In 2014 Professor Carl Heneghan joined an undercover investigation to expose how the regulation of medical devices is so lax that mesh packaging for fruit could be approved as a medical device to be implanted in people’s bodies.