RCGP’s ‘research paper of the year’ awarded to Dr Eleanor Barry

Some of primary care’s best new research was honoured last week at the Royal College for General Practitioners’ Annual Conference in Glasgow.

The conference saw NIHR In-Practice Fellow Dr Eleanor Barry presented with the College’s coveted Research Paper of the Year Award for a study looking at the accuracy and effectiveness of screening tests and treatments to help prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes.

Dr Barry’s research paper, published in the BMJ, was the overall winner across seven categories. The Award gives recognition to an individual or group of researchers who have undertaken and published an exceptional piece of research relating to general practice in primary care.

The study found that “screen and treat” policies to preventing type 2 diabetes are unlikely to have a substantial impact on the condition, which affects 3.2 million people in the UK.

The researchers found that the diagnostic accuracy of tests used to detect pre-diabetes in screening programmes was low, suggesting that large numbers of people will be unnecessarily treated or falsely reassured depending on the test used. They analysed the results of 49 studies of screening tests and 50 intervention trials.