NIHR HTA funded study wins the BMJ Research paper of the year award
Research funded by the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) programme into the treatment of Bell’s Palsy has won the prestigious BMJ’s Group Awards for Research Paper of the Year. This award recognises original research that has contributed to improving health and care research. The paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Volume 357, Number 16, showed that treating Bell’s Palsy with steroids significantly improves the chances of a complete recovery.
The lead researcher Professor Frank Sullivan, a GP from the Scottish School of Primary Care, accepted the award at the BMJ Group Awards 2009 ceremony on 2 April. Professor Dame Sally C. Davies Director General of Research and Development, was a member of the judging panel and awarded the prize to Professor Francis Sullivan. She said,
“I was delighted to present this prestigious award as it highlights both the vital nature of research undertaken in the NHS in bringing about true benefits and better treatments for patients, and the important role that the National Institute for Health Research plays in funding clinical and applied health research to ensure we have a world class health research system.”
The clinical trial, the largest of its kind, investigated the clinical and cost-effectiveness of steroid and antiviral treatment for patients with Bell’s Palsy. The research team concluded that early treatment with prednisolone is an effective and cost-effective treatment for people with Bell’s Palsy, with 96% of participants given prednisolone recovering full facial function after nine months. Of the participants not given prednisolone 85% of also recovered full facial movement, suggesting that the decision to offer no treatment will mean that about one in five patients will end up disfigured to a varying degree.
“The results of our study provide good clinical evidence to support the use of steroids as a treatment for Bell’s Palsy, a condition where currently there is no clear treatment strategy,” says Professor Francis Sullivan. “We hope our research will enable clinicians to have informed discussions with their patients regarding the use of steroids.”
“Winning this award is important, because there is a tendency to think that research is what happens in laboratories. There’s some really important research answering questions that patients want answered, and that can be done in the community”.
Link to the BMJ: http://group.bmj.com/products/group-awards/bmj-group-award-winners
Link to the HTA: http://www.hta.ac.uk/news/newsitem060409.shtml