Centre for Statistics in Medicine
Latest news from CSM
Ethnic disparities persist in COVID-19 and cardiovascular disease
7 July 2025
A new study has found that people from non-White ethnic backgrounds in England and Wales continued to be disproportionately impacted by severe outcomes after COVID-19 such as cardiovascular disease.
New research highlights colorectal cancer trends and survival rates
16 April 2025
A recent study published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology investigates the incidence and survival rates of colorectal cancer (CRC) in the UK. The research offers healthcare decision-makers crucial insights for planning, management and screening for colorectal cancer.
Global study supports the immunity debt hypothesis for flu after Covid restrictions
7 April 2025
A new NDORMS study supports the hypothesis of immunity debt showing increases of influenza rates one year after global relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions. It highlights the need for proactive preparations in future pandemic response strategies.
NDORMS study highlights lingering symptoms long after COVID-19 infection
15 November 2024
A new international study has shed light on the significant burden of post-acute COVID-19 symptoms across N. America, Europe and Asia.
Post-acute infection syndrome is not unique to COVID-19
25 October 2024
Patients hospitalised with COVID-19 often report a wide range of symptoms months after their initial illness. But a new study from NDORMS shows that post-acute infection syndrome (PAIS) is not unique to COVID-19 and can also occur after other respiratory infections.
Healthy lifestyle lowers the risk of post-COVID complications
13 August 2024
A new NDORMS study has found that a healthy lifestyle can significantly reduce the risk of post-COVID complications, hospitalisation, and death.
New real-world evidence network co-ordination centre for the UK
17 June 2024
Daniel Prieto-Alhambra from NDORMS is to lead a new co-ordination centre for a pilot real-world evidence network to utilise data gathered from multiple UK sources.
Cracking the genetic code for COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness
21 May 2024
Researchers have unveiled critical insights into how our genetic makeup influences the body's response to COVID-19 vaccines. The study, published in Nature Communications, may open new paths to personalised vaccination strategies.
New Maternity Early Warning Score to be implemented across the NHS
16 May 2024
Researchers in Oxford have developed a new maternity early warning score that is derived from patient data. The new system, which is being rolled out across the English NHS, will help healthcare providers identify and respond to signs of deterioration in pregnant women.
New TRIPOD+AI guidelines reflect growing use of AI in healthcare research
16 April 2024
The widespread use of artificial intelligence (AI) in medical decision-making tools has led to an update of the TRIPOD guidelines for reporting clinical prediction models. The new TRIPOD+AI guidelines are launched in the BMJ today.
COVID-19 vaccines effectiveness: results from Norway demonstrate the reproducibility of federated analytics
11 April 2024
Researchers from NDORMS and the University of Oslo, have successfully replicated findings from recently published international studies on the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines to prevent long COVID and post-acute complications.
New study reveals long-term mental health risks after COVID-19
21 March 2024
A new study published in Nature Human Behaviour sheds light on the long-term mental health consequences of COVID-19 infection and the growing evidence of the protective effect of vaccination on reducing the risk.
Professor Gary Collins awarded prestigious NIHR Senior Investigator award
15 March 2024
NDORMS Professor of Medical Statistics and Director of the Centre for Statistics in Medicine, Gary Collins has been appointed National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Senior Investigator.
COVID jab linked to lower risk of COVID-19-related clot and heart complications
13 March 2024
NDORMS research shows that vaccination reduced the risk of heart failure and some clot-related complications for up to a year.
Removing bias from healthcare AI tools
22 February 2024
Rapid advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) have opened the way for the creation of a huge range of new healthcare tools, but to ensure that these tools do not exacerbate preexisting health inequities, researchers urge the use of more representative data in their development.
New reporting guideline will provide transparency in consensus research
24 January 2024
Published in PLOS, the new guideline will help the scientific community to write complete and transparent research reports involving consensus methods.
COVID-19 vaccines found effective in reducing long COVID symptoms
12 January 2024
A recent study has revealed the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines in preventing long COVID.
Fair safe medical AI: a South Asia case study to co-develop local agency & trust leaving no one behind
11 September 2023
The Planetary Health Informatics Lab led by Associate Professor Sara Khalid at NDORMS has announced that it is a winner of a Global Grand Challenges award – an initiative fostering innovation to solve pressing global health and development problems and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Jonathan Cook made Professor of Clinical Trials and Medical Statistics
7 September 2023
Jonathan Cook was successful in the 2023 University Recognition of Distinction exercise
Researchers call for urgent action in hip fracture prevention
9 June 2023
An international group of researchers, including Prof. Daniel Prieto-Alhambra at NDORMS, have predicted that hip fracture burden will nearly double worldwide by 2050
DARWIN EU® success leads to expansion
3 May 2023
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) initiative DARWIN EU® has completed its first studies and is calling for new data partners
Data-Driven research will map COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness in Brazil and Pakistan
5 April 2023
A study to monitor the safety and effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine in the Global South, has received funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Grand Challenges initiative.
Jonathan Cook elected as Society for Clinical Trials board member
3 April 2023
Associate Professor Jonathan Cook has been elected to the Society for Clinical Trials (SCT) board.
NIHR Fellowships awarded to NDORMS researchers
17 March 2023
Congratulations to Eileen Morrow and Mae Chester-Jones who have received NIHR Doctoral Fellowships
OCTRU - delivering answers to important clinical questions
7 March 2023
The Oxford Clinical Trials Research Unit (OCTRU) has received NIHR benchmarking results and offers excellent value for money according to the report
New cost-benefit model of Fracture Liaison Services helping healthcare decision makers
9 February 2023
The newly developed model to estimate the health benefits and budget impact of Fracture Liaison Services (FLS) finds them highly effective in shaping positive patient outcomes, and will help drive policy decisions.
Sara Khalid named Associate Professor at NDORMS
2 February 2023
The University of Oxford has awarded the title of Associate Professor to Dr Sara Khalid as part of its recognition of excellence awards.
Botnar researchers awarded Fellowships
9 January 2023
Arani Vivekanantham has been awarded an NIHR Doctoral Fellowship and a Versus Arthritis Clinical Research Fellowship, and Rachel Kuo was awarded an NIHR Doctoral Research Fellowship.
Patients like me
1 November 2022
What can patients learn from the experiences of people like them who’ve already had a hip replacement? A new tool called ‘Patients like me’ helps answer some of the questions about pain, complications and how long the prosthesis might last.
Study reveals new evidence on rare blood-clotting condition after covid-19 vaccination
28 October 2022
Researchers from NDORMS at the University of Oxford have investigated claims that some adenovirus-based COVID-19 vaccines increase the risk of rare blood clots compared to their mRNA-based counterparts.
Daniel Prieto-Alhambra receives ISPE award for COVID-19 research
1 September 2022
Daniel Prieto-Alhambra has been awarded the 'Special ISPE award for contributions to public health associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.'
Junqing Xie awarded by the International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology
30 August 2022
Congratulations to Junqing (Frank) Xie who has been awarded the Stanley A. Edlavitch Award from The International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology (ISPE).
Higher risk of blood clots in COVID-19 outpatients, largely reduced after vaccination
19 August 2022
Researchers at NDORMS have studied the association between ambulatory COVID-19 and short-term risk of venal thrombosis and the clinical and genetic risk factors predisposing them to developing post–COVID-19 thrombosis.
OCTRU collaboration boosts understanding of COVID vaccine response
21 July 2022
Working with researchers across multiple universities, the Oxford Clinical Trials Unit (OCTRU) played a key role in delivering results of the national VROOM trial (Vaccine Response On Off Methotrexate).
COVID-19’s high blood clot risk
14 May 2022
A recent study of patient health records found that around 1 in 100 people with COVID-19 had a venal or arterial thrombosis, with rates higher still among males, and particularly for those hospitalised.
Rethinking pain management after injury
6 May 2022
NDORMS researchers are to study whether a pain management treatment using cognitive behavioural therapy will improve recovery for people who have had a major leg injury.
Oxford leads global cross-collaboration Covid research
14 March 2022
A new collaboration between Oxford, Brazil and Pakistan has been funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The partnership will provide researchers with de-identified health data from two of the worlds global COVID-19 hotspots to increase understanding of COVID-19 in these communities and help accelerate the management of the disease.
NDORMS joins DARWIN EU® Coordination Centre for drug and vaccine safety
11 February 2022
The European Medicines Agency has announced the establishment of the Data Analysis and Real World Interrogation Network (DARWIN EU®) to support better decision making on the development and effectiveness of medicines and vaccines.
NDORMS researchers honoured in the Recognition Of Distinction Scheme 2021
17 December 2021
Sally Hopewell and John Christianson have been awarded the title of ‘Full Professor’ in the University of Oxford’s Recognition Of Distinction Scheme 2021.
Vaccination safety: generating accurate evidence is the clearest path to creating public trust
25 November 2021
A new study shows that a vaccine surveillance method in observational data may generate high number of false positives
New advanced analytics research to deliver next level of insights into COVID-19
11 November 2021
NDORMS is leading one of nine new studies awarded total of £2m to use large-scale linked data to address priority research questions that will improve understanding of the pandemic and inform the continued policy response.
Oxford researchers call for an urgent re-evaluation of “weak” opioid safety profile
22 October 2021
A new study associates dispensation doses of tramadol with increased risk of mortality, cardiovascular events, and fractures compared to the use of codeine to treat pain.
New guidelines to improve reporting standards of studies that investigate causal mechanisms
21 September 2021
Researchers at NDORMS have developed a new set of guidelines for reporting mediation analyses in health research.
COVID-19 vaccines shown to reduce infection by 90% in nursing homes
18 August 2021
A new collaborative study between the Catalan Institute of Health, the Public Health Secreatariat of Catalonia, and the Centre for Statistics in Medicine, NDORMS, at the University of Oxford have confirmed that COVID-19 vaccines greatly reduce infections, hospitalisations and mortality for up to 6 months.
COVID-19 vaccine safety monitoring should account for age, gender, and database differences
14 June 2021
The largest, most extensive global network study on background rates for adverse events of special interest identifies important age, sex and database differences that should inform future safety surveillance efforts.
Professor Dani Prieto-Alhambra elected to ISPE Board of Directors
11 June 2021
Dani Prieto-Alhambra, Professor of Pharmaco- and Device Epidemiology at NDORMS, has been elected as the Academic representative for Europe and Africa on the International Society of Pharmaco-Epidemiology Board of Directors.
3,400 different medicines used globally to treat COVID-19
11 May 2021
Insufficient data, and misleading recommendations led to significant early heterogeneity in global COVID-19 patient management, according to recent BMJ study
Understanding the first wave of COVID-19 and implications for tackling the ongoing pandemic: evidence from 5.5 million people from Catalonia, Spain
3 February 2021
Health outcomes during the first wave of COVID-19 in Catalonia, Spain, have been described in detail in a study published by Nature Communications.
Patients set to benefit from new guidelines on Artificial Intelligence health solutions
10 September 2020
Patients could benefit from a faster and more effective introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) innovations to diagnose and treat disease – thanks to the first international standards for reporting of clinical trials for AI.
Grant towards OHDSI Global Research on COVID-19 treatments
10 August 2020
An international cohort of OHDSI collaborators obtain a grant from the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator to lead an effort to compare the effectiveness of treatments, including corticosteroids such as dexamethasone, under current evaluation for COVID-19 across an international observational data network.