Jonathan Hewitt

Jonathan Hewitt
Cardiff University | CU · Division of Population Medicine

MBBS MSc FRCP(Glas) PhD

About

171
Publications
24,220
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5,489
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Introduction
I work in the Division of Population Medicine, Cardiff University. My research focuses on Internal Medicine (General Medicine), Stroke (particularly PROMs), Geriatrics (Surgery in the Older Person). I have an interest in frailty across all medical specialities. I am an associate editor for both Age and Ageing and Geriatrics. I've dabbled in the COVID recently too
Additional affiliations
September 2013 - November 2016
Cardiff University
Position
  • Lecturer
August 2011 - August 2012
University of Glasgow
Position
  • Honorary Consultant
September 2001 - September 2005
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Position
  • NHS R&D MSc and PhD Student

Publications

Publications (171)
Article
Introduction Preoperative frailty is a key determinant of post-surgical outcomes and often co-exists with sarcopenia and malnutrition. Older patients account for a significant proportion of patients undergoing surgery for colorectal cancer and are therefore more likely to be affected by these risk factors. Methods Patients aged 65 and over undergo...
Article
Full-text available
Background Frailty is a clinical state that increases susceptibility to minor stressor events. The risk of frailty is higher in chronic conditions, such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Recent studies on COPD have shown that patients living with frailty have an increased risk of mortality. The presence of cardiovascular diseases or...
Preprint
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Background The prevalence of frailty is increasing as the global population ages. The relationship between frailty and poor outcomes and the utility of frailty indices to assess frailty is well documented. Although secondary spontaneous pneumothorax (SSP) is common, there are no data evaluating the relationship between frailty and outcomes in this...
Article
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Background There are currently no data on the relationship between frailty and mortality in pleural disease. Understanding the relationship between frailty and outcomes is increasingly important for clinicians to guide decisions regarding investigation and management. This study aims to explore the relationship between all-cause mortality and frail...
Article
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Introduction Diabetes is associated with an increased risk of stroke. In many cases, a diabetes diagnosis may predate a stroke; however, diabetes is often diagnosed during the hospital admission following a stroke. To explore the experiences of stroke survivors as they cope with a new diabetes diagnosis, particularly regarding developing an effecti...
Preprint
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Background Frailty is a clinical state that increases susceptibility to minor stressor events. The risk of frailty is higher in chronic conditions, such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Recent studies on COPD have shown that patients living with frailty have an increased risk of mortality. The presence of cardiovascular diseases or...
Article
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Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the sixth leading cause of death in the United States in 2022 and the third leading cause of death in England and Wales in 2022, is associated with high symptom burden, particularly dyspnoea. Frailty is a complex clinical syndrome associated with an increased vulnerability to adverse health outcomes. Th...
Article
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Frailty increases vulnerability to adverse outcomes. Long-term conditions increase the risk of frailty. We searched PubMed, Web of Science, The Cochrane Library, EMBASE from inception to March 2022. Quality assessment was conducted using the NOS. Data was analysed in a pooled a random-effects meta-analysis. Our primary outcome was the impact of fra...
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Background: Frailty is a syndrome characterised by increased vulnerability to negative outcomes. Interstitial lung disease (ILD), asthma, and pleural disease are leading causes of morbidity and mortality. We aimed to investigate the prevalence and impact of frailty in adult patients with these diseases. Methods: We conducted a systematic review...
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Unlabelled: There are national and global moves to improve effective digital data design and application in healthcare. This New Horizons commentary describes the role of digital data in healthcare of the ageing population. We outline how health and social care professionals can engage in the proactive design of digital systems that appropriately...
Preprint
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Introduction: As the population ages, frailty is becoming more common and understanding how frailty impacts on patient outcomes has become an integral part of clinical care. To date, there is no evidence available on the relationship between frailty and patient outcomes in pleural disease. In this study we explore the relationship between frailty a...
Article
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Purpose Post-operative complications following emergency abdominal surgery are associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Despite the knowledge of prognostic factors associated with poor surgical outcomes; few have described risks of poor outcomes based on admission information in acute surgical setting. We aimed to derive a simple, point...
Preprint
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Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is associated with significant mortality and morbidity in care homes. Novel or repurposed antiviral drugs may reduce infection and disease severity through reducing viral replication and inflammation. Objective: To compare the safety and efficacy of antiviral agents (ciclesonide, niclosamide) for prev...
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Background: There is no consensus on the optimal method for the assessment of frailty. We compared the prognostic utility of two approaches (modified Frailty Index [mFI], Clinical Frailty Scale [CFS]) in older adults (≥65 years) hospitalised with COVID-19 versus age. Methods: We used a test and validation cohort that enrolled participants hospitali...
Article
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Background Effective shielding measures and virus mutations have progressively modified the disease between the waves, likewise health care systems have adapted to the outbreak. Our aim was to compare clinical outcomes for older people with COVID-19 in Wave 1 (W1) and 2 (W2). Methods All data, including the Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS), were colle...
Method
Post-stroke fatigue is one of the devastating complications of stroke. It has been reported to affect at least 1 in 5 patients after the cerebrovascular insult. However, the evidence around its contributing factors are scattered and inconsistent. This review aims to gather the relevant data and pool them accordingly in order to inform clinical prac...
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Background Frailty is associated with long-term physical deterioration after COVID-19. Mental health recovery has been less well investigated. Early studies have shown minimal effect from the virus, although studies have not focused on whether people living with frailty may have different psychiatric outcomes. We aimed to examine the effect of livi...
Article
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Background and Purpose The use of patient reported outcomes measures (PROMs) may offer utility that are important for stroke survivors. This study assessed the PROMIS-10, which contains Mental health (MH) and Physical Health (PH) domains, with an additional five stroke specific questions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association betwee...
Article
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Background The reduced renal function has prognostic significance in COVID-19 and it has been linked to mortality in the general population. Reduced renal function is prevalent in older age and thus we set out to better understand its effect on mortality. Methods Patient clinical and demographic data was taken from the COVID-19 in Older People (CO...
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Aims: To explore younger adults' experiences of stroke rehabilitation to inform practice, education and future health policy. Design: Qualitative analysis of digital and other media sources on public platforms. Methods: Between March and June 2020, the experiences of younger adult stroke survivors aged 18 to 45 at the time of the stroke were coll...
Article
Background and Purpose Post-stroke fatigue is a debilitating and long-lasting condition. However, there are uncertainties regarding its prevalence and variability between studies. This review aims to estimate the prevalence of fatigue and determine the factors responsible for its variation in the literature. Methods A systematic review was conduct...
Method
Post-stroke fatigue is defined as a constant feeling of tiredness, weariness or lack of energy. That feeling does not improve with rest and is not related to recent activities. Despite the condition is frequently reported, the prevalence ranges variably between published studies. This variability is still not fully understood. The current evidence...
Article
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Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) assess clinical outcomes from the perspective of the patient. The stroke community recommended fifteen questions for use in stroke survivors, based on the established PROMIS10 with five additional stroke-specific questions. This study aimed to determine its association with the National Institute of Health...
Preprint
Full-text available
Background and Purpose: The use of patient reported outcomes measures (PROMs) may offer utility and provide outcome measures that are important for stroke survivors. This study used a stroke specific PROM, which contains Mental health (MH) and Physical Health (PH). The primary aim of this study was to assess the association between the MH and PH me...
Article
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Frailty is a distinctive health state in which the ability of older people to cope with acute stressors is compromised by an increased vulnerability brought by age-associated declines in physiological reserve and function across multiple organ systems. Although closely associated with age, multimorbidity, and disability, frailty is a discrete syndr...
Article
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Objective To determine psychometric properties of the PROMIS-10 and Standard Stroke Question Set (by International Consortium for Health Outcome Measures) presented as a new 15-item Patient Related Outcome (PRO), for patients with: acquired Brain Injury (ABI), Multiple sclerosis (MS) and Parkinson’s disease (PD). Methods In an eight centre, UK wid...
Article
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Background: COVID-19 has resulted in the largest pandemic experienced since 1918, accounting for over 2 million deaths globally. Frail and older people are at the highest risk of mortality. The main objective of the present research was to quantify the impact of clinical frailty scale (CFS) by increasing severity of frailty and to identify other p...
Article
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Background In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries mandated staying at home to reduce transmission. This study examined the association between living arrangements (house occupancy numbers) and outcomes in COVID-19. Methods Study population was drawn from the COPE Study, a multicentre cohort study. House occupancy was defined as: livi...
Article
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Background There is growing interest in the use of routine patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) to influence the care of individual patients with stroke. However, there are significant gaps in our understanding as to how PROMs influence post-stroke patient care and clinical practice. This is due to factors including the number of purported use...
Article
Our increasingly aging population is associated with older people being admitted to surgical wards at a rate surpassing population growth. 1 Although frailty is not exclusive to older adults, its prevalence is positively associated with age. 2 Hewitt et al. observed frailty to independently predict increased length of hospital stay (LOS), 30-day an...
Article
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Background C-reactive protein (CRP) is a non-specific acute phase reactant elevated in infection or inflammation. Higher levels indicate more severe infection and have been used as an indicator of COVID-19 disease severity. However, the evidence for CRP as a prognostic marker is yet to be determined. The aim of this study is to examine the CRP resp...
Article
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Review question What is the evidence for cholinesterase inhibitors (medicines designed to improve memory and thinking in people with dementia), when used with people who have vascular dementia?Background Vascular dementia (or vascular cognitive impairment) is a term used when a person has problems with memory and thinking that are caused by a disru...
Article
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Background Whilst there is literature on the impact of SARS viruses in the severely immunosuppressed, less is known about the link between routine immunosuppressant use and outcome in COVID-19. Consequently, guidelines on their use vary depending on specific patient populations. Methods The study population was drawn from the COPE Study (COVID-19...
Article
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Abstract Background Social media has changed the way surgeons communicate worldwide, particularly in dissemination of trial results. However, it is unclear if social media could be used in recruitment to surgical trials. This study aimed to investigate the influence of Twitter in promoting surgical recruitment in The Emergency Laparotomy and Frailt...
Article
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Objective: During the COVID-19 pandemic the continuation or cessation of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEi) and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) has been contentious. Mechanisms have been proposed for both beneficial and detrimental effects. Recent studies have focused on mortality with no literature having examined length of hosp...
Article
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Background The COVID-19 pandemic has placed significant pressure on health and social care. Survivors of COVID-19 may be left with substantial functional deficits requiring ongoing care. We aimed to determine whether pre-admission frailty was associated with increased care needs at discharge for patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19. Methods...
Article
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Background: The impact of surgery compared to non-surgical management of older general surgical patients is not well researched. Methods: We examined the association between management and adverse outcomes in a cohort of emergency general surgery patients aged > 65 years. This multi-center study included 727 patients (mean+/-SD, 77.1 ± 8.2 years, 5...
Article
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p>Background: Different scales are being used to measure frailty. This study examined the convergent validity of the electronic Frailty Index (eFI) with the Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS). Method: The cross-sectional study recruited patients from three regional community nursing teams in the South East of England. The CFS was rated at recruitment, an...
Article
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Background Post-operative delirium is an important, yet under-researched complication of surgery. Patients undergoing urological surgery may be at especially high risk of POD, as they are often older, and interventions can be associated with conditions that trigger delirium. The main aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the available evide...
Article
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Introduction: This protocol describes an observational study which set out to assess whether frailty and/or multimorbidity correlates with short-term and medium-term outcomes in patients diagnosed with COVID-19 in a European, multicentre setting. Methods and analysis: Over a 3-month period we aim to recruit a minimum of 500 patients across 10 ho...
Article
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Frailty assessed using Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS) is a good predictor of adverse clinical events including mortality in older people. CFS is also an essential criterion for determining ceilings of care in people with COVID-19. Our aims were to assess the prevalence of frailty in older patients hospitalised with COVID-19, their sex and age distrib...
Article
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Background: Medications licensed for the treatment of dementia have limited efficacy against cognitive impairment or against the distressed behaviours (behavioural and psychological symptoms, or behaviour that challenges) which are also often the most distressing aspect of the disorder for caregivers. Complementary therapies, including aromatherap...
Article
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Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection causes acute lung injury, resulting from aggressive inflammation initiated by viral replication. There has been much speculation about the potential role of non-steroidal inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), which increase the expression of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), a binding target for severe acu...
Article
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The ACPGBI have recently released recommendations for re‐starting elective colorectal surgery to address the concerns that significant numbers of patients have been deferred during this pandemic worldwide (1). It is a credit to the specialty that most units have managed to continue with urgent cancer surgery through the pandemic, with leading units...
Article
Background: Social media has changed the way surgeons communicate worldwide, particularly in dissemination of trial results. However, it is unclear if social media could be used in recruitment to surgical trials. This study aimed to investigate the influence of Twitter in promoting surgical recruitment in The Emergency Laparotomy and Frailty (ELF)...
Preprint
Full-text available
Background: Whilst there is literature on impact of the SARS viruses in the severely immunosuppressed, and those who develop exaggerated immune response, less is known about the link between routine immunosuppressant use and outcome in COVID-19. Consequently, guidelines on their use vary depending on specific patient populations. Methods: The study...
Article
Full-text available
Introduction Hospital admissions for non-COVID-19 pathology have significantly reduced. It is believed that this may be due to public anxiety about acquiring COVID-19 infection in hospital and the subsequent risk of mortality. There is an urgent need for clarity regarding patients who acquire COVID-19 in hospital (nosocomial COVID-19 infection [NC]...
Article
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on behalf of the COPE Study Collaborators* Summary Background The COVID-19 pandemic has placed unprecedented strain on health-care systems. Frailty is being used in clinical decision making for patients with COVID-19, yet the prevalence and effect of frailty in people with COVID-19 is not known. In the COVID-19 in Older PEople (COPE) study we aimed...
Article
There are now over 30 000 emergency laparotomies under taken in the UK every year, a figure that is increasing year on year. Over half of these people are aged over 70 years old. Frailty is commonly seen in this population and becomes increasingly common with age and is seen in over 50% of elderly emergency laparotomies in people aged over 85 years...
Article
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Background: Knowledge of the prevalence of morbidity secondary to stroke is important for health care professionals, health care commissioners, third sector organizations, and stroke survivors to understand the likely progress of poststroke sequelae and to aid in commissioning decisions, planning care, and adjusting to life after stroke. Objectiv...
Article
Full-text available
Background The COVID-19 pandemic has placed unprecedented strain on health-care systems. Frailty is being used in clinical decision making for patients with COVID-19, yet the prevalence and effect of frailty in people with COVID-19 is not known. In the COVID-19 in Older PEople (COPE) study we aimed to establish the prevalence of frailty in patients...
Article
Full-text available
We write in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the important recognition of co-existing frailty [COVID-19 rapid guideline: critical care in adults; NICE NG159] [...]
Preprint
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Background Social media is changing the way surgeons communicate worldwide with a key role in disseminating trial results. However, it is unclear if social media could be used in recruitment to surgical trials. This study aimed to investigate the influence of Twitter in promoting surgical recruitment in The Emergency Laparotomy and Frailty (ELF) St...
Article
Full-text available
Older people have a high incidence of adverse outcomes after urgent care presentation. Identifying high-risk older patients early is key to targeting interventions at those patients most likely to benefit. This study used the Frailsafe three-point screening questions amongst older Emergency Department (ED) attendees. Consecutive unplanned ED attend...
Technical Report
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Older patients are steadily requiring us to bring about significant changes to our surgical practice. With population demographics, this trend will intensify. Our older patients bring multiple challenges, which span many boundaries - surgical, medical, social, expectational. Different treatments and priorities can be required and a complex interpla...
Article
Background: Older adults undergoing emergency abdominal surgery have significantly poorer outcomes than younger adults. For those who survive, the level of care required on discharge from hospital is unknown and such information could guide decision-making. The ELF (Emergency Laparotomy and Frailty) study aimed to determine whether preoperative fr...
Article
Full-text available
Background Older patients account for a significant proportion of patients undergoing colorectal cancer surgery and are vulnerable to a number of preoperative risk factors that are not often present in younger patients. Further, three preoperative risk factors that are more prevalent in older adults include frailty, sarcopenia, and malnutrition. Al...
Article
Full-text available
Background: With an ageing population, an increasing number of older adults are admitted for assessment to acute surgical units. Older adults have specific factors that may influence outcomes, one of which is delirium (acute cognitive impairment). Objectives: To establish the prevalence of delirium on admission in an older acute surgical populat...
Article
Objective: This study aimed to document the prevalence of frailty in older adults undergoing emergency laparotomy and to explore relationships between frailty and postoperative morbidity and mortality. Summary background data: The majority of adults undergoing emergency laparotomy are older adults (≥65 y) that carry the highest mortality. Improv...
Preprint
BACKGROUND Knowledge of the prevalence of morbidity secondary to stroke is important for health care professionals, health care commissioners, third sector organizations, and stroke survivors to understand the likely progress of poststroke sequelae and to aid in commissioning decisions, planning care, and adjusting to life after stroke. OBJECTIVE...
Article
Full-text available
Abstract Background Recovery following a stroke is a long and ongoing process. Post-stroke follow-up after leaving the hospital is recommended. Methods for follow-up patients include face-to-face, via the telephone, post or online (internet). However, there is a debate which method is preferred by patients. This study aimed to determine whether tel...
Article
OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to document the prevalence of frailty in older adults undergoing emergency laparotomy and to explore relationships between frailty and postoperative morbidity and mortality. SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA: The majority of adults undergoing emergency laparotomy are older adults (≥65 y) that carry the highest mortality. Improved...
Article
Full-text available
Background: Antiplatelet therapy reduces the risk of major vascular events for people with occlusive vascular disease, although it might increase the risk of intracranial haemorrhage. Patients surviving the commonest subtype of intracranial haemorrhage, intracerebral haemorrhage, are at risk of both haemorrhagic and occlusive vascular events, but...