Lesley A Anderson

University of Aberdeen | ABDN · Aberdeen Centre for Health Data Science

Background There is no clinically relevant serological marker for the early detection of oesophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) and its precursor lesion, Barrett’s oesophagus (BE). Objective To develop and test a blood-based assay for EAC and BE. Design Oesophageal MicroRNAs of BaRRett, Adenocarcinoma and Dysplasia ( EMERALD ) was a large, internationa...

Despite the vast quantities of published artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms that target trauma and orthopaedic applications, very few progress to inform clinical practice. One key reason for this is the lack of a clear pathway from development to deployment. In order to assist with this process, we have developed the Clinical Practice Integrat...

Background Early cancer recognition is key to improving patient outcomes. Diagnosis is often delayed in myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN) patients, putting them at risk of thromboembolic events and other complications pre-diagnosis. A clear understanding of the barriers to presentation and diagnosis is required. Aims To explore barriers and factor...

Aims: To examine whether natural language processing (NLP) using a clinically based large language model (LLM) could be used to predict patient selection for total hip or total knee arthroplasty (THA/TKA) from routinely available free-text radiology reports. Methods: Data pre-processing and analyses were conducted according to the Artificial int...

Background Although overall incidence of gastric cancer is decreasing, incidence has been increasing among young people in some Western countries. This trend may stem from the increase in autoimmune conditions. Methods A nested case-control study of gastric cancer in UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink. Up to ten cancer-free controls were match...

In the last decade, genetic analysis has aided lymphoma classification, alongside traditional phenotypic subdivision. Lymphomas exhibit sex differences in disease incidence and prevalence; therefore, scope existed to explore sex-specific genetic variation. Harnessing UK Biobank genetic data (185,000 females, 176,000 males), sex-specific genome-wide...

Background The national breast screening programme in the United Kingdom is under pressure due to workforce shortages and having been paused during the COVID-19 pandemic. Artificial intelligence has the potential to transform how healthcare is delivered by improving care processes and patient outcomes. Research on the clinical and organisational be...

To examine whether Natural Language Processing (NLP) using a state-of-the-art clinically based Large Language Model (LLM) could predict patient selection for Total Hip Arthroplasty (THA), across a range of routinely available clinical text sources. Data pre-processing and analyses were conducted according to the Ai to Revolutionise the patient Care...

Background The national breast screening programme in the United Kingdom is under pressure due to workforce shortages and having been paused during the COVID-19 pandemic. Artificial intelligence has the potential to transform how healthcare is delivered by improving care processes and patient outcomes. Research on the clinical and organisational be...

Objective. To characterise cancer diagnosis in Scottish primary care in 2018/19 and draw comparisons with diagnostic activity in 2014. Methods. A national audit of cancer diagnosis undertaken in Scottish general practices. Participating GPs collected diagnostic pathway data on patients diagnosed with cancer in 2018/19 from medical records. These da...

Objectives To determine factors influencing reader agreement in breast screening and investigate the relationship between agreement level and patient outcomes. Methods Reader pair agreement for 83 265 sets of mammograms from the Scottish Breast Screening service (2015-2020) was evaluated using Cohen’s kappa statistic. Each mammography examination...

Background Myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) are a group of haematological malignancies that affect approximately 8 people in every 100,000 individuals in the UK. Little is known about the aetiology of MPNs, as previous studies have been hampered by small sample sizes, thus it is important to understand the cause of MPNs in a larger study to iden...

Alleviating symptom burden in patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) is imperative to achieving optimal management. Research remains to elucidate the relationship between the JAK2 V617F ( Janus kinase 2 ) mutation present in many MPN patients, and the symptomatology they experience. This retrospective study analysed data collected from M...

Background: In Scotland 17 % of the population reside rurally and previous research has demonstrated worse cancer outcomes in this group. The underlying reason for this is unclear. This study aims to determine whether patient presenting factors, GP consultation factors or the diagnostic pathways differ between urban and rural patients within Scotl...

Artificial intelligence (AI) tools may assist breast screening mammography programs, but limited evidence supports their generalizability to new settings. This retrospective study used a 3-year dataset (April 1, 2016-March 31, 2019) from a U.K. regional screening program. The performance of a commercially available breast screening AI algorithm was...

Objectives This study surveyed the views of breast screening readers in the UK on how to incorporate Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology into breast screening mammography. Methods An online questionnaire was circulated to the UK breast screening readers. Questions included their degree of approval of four AI implementation scenarios: AI as tri...

Aims The extended wait that most patients are now experiencing for hip and knee arthroplasty has raised questions about whether reliance on waiting time as the primary driver for prioritization is ethical, and if other additional factors should be included in determining surgical priority. Our Prioritization of THose aWaiting hip and knee Arthropla...

Objectives Scotland has an established Trusted Research Environment (TREs) through the Scottish Safe Haven Network. These Safe Havens traditionally service structured datasets, however, researchers increasingly require access to large multi-modal linked datasets that include medical imaging. We therefore introduced an equivalent to access anonymise...

Objectives To determine the risk of misidentification when using a “Hidden In Plain Sight (HIPS)” Named Entity Recognition (NER) de-identification methodology applied to Scottish healthcare data within The Industrial Centre for Artificial Intelligence Research in Digital Diagnostics (iCAIRD) Safe Haven Artificial Intelligence Platform (SHAIP). Appr...

Human papillomavirus (HPV) plays an essential role in cervical cancer development. Angola has a high cervical cancer incidence rate (36.1 per 100,000); therefore, knowledge of HPV among clinicians is essential for the prevention of cervical cancer and educating at-risk individuals. This study aimed to evaluate knowledge of HPV among healthcare prof...

Background: Over 20 susceptibility single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been identified for esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) and its precursor, Barrett's esophagus (BE), explaining a small portion of heritability. Methods: Using genetic data from 4,323 BE and 4,116 EAC patients aggregated by international consortia including the Barrett's...

Background Hip and knee osteoarthritis is substantially prevalent worldwide, with large numbers of older adults undergoing joint replacement (arthroplasty) every year. A backlog of elective surgery due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and an aging population, has led to substantial issues with access to timely arthroplasty surgery. A potential method to i...

Artificial intelligence (AI) tools may assist breast screening mammography programmes, but evidence gaps remain, including whether AI performance is consistent across sites and over time. This study used a three-year historical dataset (58,209 cases) from a UK regional screening programme with known clinical outcomes. The performance of a commercia...

The COVID‐19 pandemic has greatly affected the delivery of cancer care. Due to social restrictions and reductions in health service contact, it is expected that the burdens experienced by informal carers have risen. This study provides an analysis of cancer carer's experiences and needs as a consequence of the pandemic. An online mixed method desig...

HER2-positive breast cancers, representing up to 20% of all breast cancers, are more aggressive and have poorer outcomes. Systemic therapy has been proven to prevent disease recurrence and improve survival. Existing literature provides only limited evidence to support this in smaller HER2-positive tumors. The study aimed to evaluate HER-2 positive...

BACKGROUND Hip and knee osteoarthritis is substantially prevalent worldwide, with large numbers of older adults undergoing joint replacement (arthroplasty) every year. A backlog of elective surgery due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and an aging population, has led to substantial issues with access to timely arthroplasty surgery. A potential method to i...

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has placed an inexorable strain on endoscopy services worldwide, affecting the diagnosis of oesophago-gastric (OG) cancer and Barrett’s oesophagus (BO). As coronavirus infection rates rose many professional bodies advised that all endoscopy, except emergency and essential procedures be stopped immediately. We sought...

There is increasing popularity in the use of artificial intelligence and machine-learning techniques to provide diagnostic and prognostic models for various aspects of Trauma & Orthopaedic surgery. However, correct interpretation of these models is difficult for those without specific knowledge of computing or health data science methodology. Lack...

Background and aims: Gallbladder cancer (GBC) has a female predominance, whereas the other biliary tract cancers (BTCs) have a male predominance, suggesting that sex hormones may be involved in carcinogenesis. We sought to evaluate the association between menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) and the risk of BTC in women. Approach and results: This n...

Background Myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) are a relatively new group of blood cancers arising from genetic mutations in haematopoietic stem cells. Diagnostic delay is associated with thromboses, strokes and heart attacks. We investigated geographic variation in diagnosis and survival for classic MPNs. Methods Data for classic MPNs were obtain...

Myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) are an uncommon group of blood cancers that, if untreated, result in an increased risk of haemorrhagic event or thrombosis. Unlike other cancer types, diagnosis of MPNs requires a combination of microscopic, clinical and genetic evidence, which provide unique challenges given the typical notification processes of...

UNSTRUCTURED For over a decade, Scotland has implemented and operationalised a system of Safe Havens providing secure analytics platforms for researchers to access linked, de-identified Electronic Health Records (EHRs) while managing the risk of unauthorised re-identification. In this paper a perspective is provided on the state-of-the-art Scottish...

For over a decade, Scotland has implemented and operationalized a system of Safe Havens, which provides secure analytics platforms for researchers to access linked, deidentified electronic health records (EHRs) while managing the risk of unauthorized reidentification. In this paper, a perspective is provided on the state-of-the-art Scottish Safe Ha...

Early in the COVID‐19 pandemic, the UK National Health Service (NHS) identified multiple myeloma (MM) patients as a “clinically extremely vulnerable” population¹. In contrast, the clinical significance of COVID‐19 to MM precursors, monoclonal gammopathy of undermined significance (MGUS)² and smouldering multiple myeloma (SMM)³, remains unknown. Her...

Background There is a large Barrett’s esophagus patient population undergoing endoscopic surveillance. Methods to stratify patients into higher and lower risk groups may enable more varied surveillance intervals for patients with non-dysplastic Barrett’s esophagus that could optimize use of endoscopy resources.Objective We aimed to assess whether r...

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate patient experiences of living with monoclonal gammopathy of undermined significance (MGUS). Living with a premalignant condition such as MGUS may elicit negative psychosocial effects including increased anxiety and fear of progression to cancer. To date, no study utilising qualitative methodology ha...

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) and its precursor, Barrett’s esophagus (BE), have uncovered significant genetic components of risk, but most heritability remains unexplained. Targeted assessment of genetic variation in biologically relevant pathways using novel analytical approaches may identify missed susc...

Background: The COVID pandemic has resulted in significant changes many aspects of daily living. To understand the impact that COVID-19 has had on the myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN) patient population, we conducted an internet based survey. Methods: Survey: This survey was hosted Mayo Clinic's secured REDCap system for online surveys with a link...

Over the last three decades, the incidence of thyroid cancer has increased worldwide. The reasons for this increase remain controversial. In Algeria, however, to date, information on thyroid cancer has been limited to a hospital-based case series. We analyzed data from a population-based cohort study in Oran District, Algeria, to describe demograph...

Background & Aims:Esophageal adenocarcinoma (EA) and its premalignant lesion, Barrett’s esophagus (BE), are characterized by a strong and yet unexplained male predominance (with a male-to-female ratio in EA incidence of up to 6:1). Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified more than 20 susceptibility loci for these conditions. However,...

Objective Limited information is available on the incidence of rare thyroid cancer (TC) subtypes: anaplastic (ATC) and medullary (MTC). The aim of this study was to describe incidence variations and trends across European countries of all TC subtypes. Materials and methods We used the RARECAREnet database including 80721 TC incident cases in the p...

Myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) have estimated annual incidence rates for polycythemia vera (PV), essential thrombocythemia (ET), and primary myelofibrosis of 0.84, 1.03, and 0.47 per 100,000. Prevalence is much higher, particularly for PV and ET, as mortality rates are relatively low. Patients are often concerned about why they developed an MP...

Objective The COVID-19 pandemic has placed an inexorable strain on endoscopy services worldwide, affecting the diagnosis of esophago-gastric (EG) cancer and Barrett’s esophagus (BE). As coronavirus infection rates rose many professional bodies advised that all endoscopy, except emergency and essential procedures, be stopped immediately. We sought t...

Despite the identification of acquired genetic mutations associated with Myeloproliferative Neoplasms (MPNs) there is a paucity of information relating to modifiable risk factors that may lead to these mutations. The MOSAICC Study was an exploratory case-control study of polycythemia vera (PV), essential thrombocythemia (ET), and Myelofibrosis (MF)...

Background & aims: Esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) occurs most frequently in men. We performed a Mendelian randomization analysis to investigate whether genetic factors that regulate levels of sex hormones associated with risk of EAC or Barrett's esophagus (BE). Methods: We conducted a Mendelian randomization analysis using data from patients wi...

Background: Determination of human papillomavirus (HPV) status has become clinically relevant for patient stratification under UICC TNM8 staging. Within the United Kingdom, a combination of p16 IHC and HPV DNA-ISH is recommended for classifying HPV status. This study will assess a series of clinically applicable second-line molecular tests to run...

Background Diabetes is positively associated with various cancers, but its relationship with tumors of the esophagus/esophagogastric junction remains unclear. Methods Data were harmonized across 13 studies in the International Barrett’s and Esophageal Adenocarcinoma Consortium, comprising 2309 esophageal adenocarcinoma (EA) cases, 1938 esophagogas...

Objectives: Recent evidence showed that myotonic dystrophy type I (DM1) patients are at increased risk of certain cancers, but the risk of benign tumors is unknown. We compared the risk of benign tumors in DM1 patients with matched DM1-free individuals and assessed the association between benign tumors and subsequent cancers. Methods: We identif...

Introduction While multiple myeloma (MM) is a rare diagnosis within primary care, its precursor MGUS (monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance) is more common, particularly among older populations. Upon first detection, the majority of MGUS patients will be under the care of their General Practitioner (GP)/Family Doctor who is also often...

Background Rare cancers comprise almost a quarter of all cancers in Europe, and patients generally have poorer outcomes than those suffering from more common cancers. This is attributed in part to a general lack of knowledge and awareness of rare cancers. This review aims to examine the communication strategies being used throughout the world to in...

Background: TNM8 staging for oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas (OPSCC) surrogates p16 immunohistochemistry for HPV testing. Patients with p16+ OPSCC may lack HPV aetiology. Here, we evaluate the suitability of TNM8 staging for guiding prognosis in such patients. Methods: HPV status was ascertained using p16 immunohistochemistry and high-ris...

Epidemiology studies of circulating concentrations of 25 hydroxy vitamin D (25(OH)D) and risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) have produced conflicting results. We conducted a Mendelian randomization study to determine the associations between circulating concentrations of 25(OH)D and risks of EAC and its precursor, Barrett's esophagus (BE). ME...

Objective To evaluate the association between statin use and risk of biliary tract cancers (BTC). Design This is a nested case–control study conducted in the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink. We included cases diagnosed with incident primary BTCs, including cancers of the gall bladder, bile duct (ie, both intrahepatic and extrahepatic cholan...

We previously developed a tool that identified individuals who later developed esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC; based on age, sex, body mass index, smoking status, and prior esophageal conditions) with an area under the curve of 0.80. In this study, we collected data from 329,463 individuals in the UK Biobank cohort who were tested for genetic susce...

Objectives: Epidemiological studies of Helicobacter pylori infection and risk of Barrett's esophagus (BE) have reported conflicting results. We examined the association between H. pylori infection and BE and sought to determine whether the association is mediated by gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and to identify potential effect modifiers....

Background & Aims: Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified more than 20 susceptibility loci for esophageal adenocarcinoma (EA) and Barrett’s esophagus (BE). However, variants in these loci account for a small fraction of cases of EA and BE. Genetic factors might interact with environmental factors to affect risk of EA and BE. We aime...

Background & aims: Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified more than 20 susceptibility loci for esophageal adenocarcinoma (EA) and Barrett's esophagus (BE). However, variants in these loci account for a small fraction of cases of EA and BE. Genetic factors might interact with environmental factors to affect risk of EA and BE. We aim...

Background & aims: The prognosis for most patients with esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) is poor because they present with advanced disease. Models developed to identify patients at risk for EAC and increase early detection have been developed based on data from case-control studies. We analyzed data from a prospective study to identify factors ava...

Background Esophageal adenocarcinoma (EA) is characterized by a strong male predominance. Sex steroid hormones have been hypothesized to underlie this sex disparity, but no population-based study to date has examined this potential association. Methods Using mass spectrometry and ELISA, we quantitated sex steroid hormones and sex hormone binding g...

Distribution of characteristics among control participants and esophageal adenocarcinoma cases, in the FINBAR Study2002–2004. aP values based on t-test for continuous variables and χ2 test for categorical variables. bDefined as at least 50 times per year or about once a week. cDefined as at least once weekly for 6 months or more. (DOCX)

Unadjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the associations between circulating metabolite concentrations and esophageal adenocarcinoma incidence, in the FINBAR Study: 2002–2004. aTests of linear trend were calculated by assigning the median of each quartile as scores. bProgesterone values below the LOD form the referent wi...

Adjusteda odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for associations between circulating sex steroid hormone concentrations and esophageal adenocarcinoma risk, stratified by body mass index (kg/m2) change in the 5 years preceding interview. aLogistic regression models were adjusted for age at interview (quartiles), education (<10, 10–12,...

Adjusteda odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the associations between circulating metabolite concentrationsb and esophageal adenocarcinoma incidence, Factors Influencing the Barrett/Adenocarcinoma Relationship: 2002–2004. aLogistic regression models were adjusted for age at interview (continuous), education (<10, 10–12, 13–20...

Background & Aims: We developed comprehensive models to determine risk of Barrett’s esophagus (BE) or esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) based on genetic and non-genetic factors. Methods: We used pooled data from 3288 patients with BE, 2511 patients with EAC, and 2177 individuals without either (controls) from participants in the international Barrett...

Background & aims: We developed comprehensive models to determine risk of Barrett's esophagus (BE) or esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) based on genetic and non-genetic factors. Methods: We used pooled data from 3288 patients with BE, 2511 patients with EAC, and 2177 individuals without either (controls) from participants in the international Barr...

Burkitt lymphoma (BL) occurs as three subtypes: endemic BL, immunosuppression‐related BL and sporadic BL. Descriptive studies of BL age‐specific incidence patterns have suggested multimodal peaks near 10, 40 and 70 years of age, but the risk factors for BL at different ages are unknown. We investigated risk factors for BL in the United Kingdom amon...

Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) is an inherited multisystem neuromuscular disorder caused by a CTG trinucleotide repeat expansion in the DMPK gene. Recent evidence documents that DM1 patients have an increased risk of certain cancers, but whether skin cancer risks are elevated is unclear. Using the U.K. Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD), w...

Biological sample collection is becoming more common in epidemiology research to obtain DNA for genetic analysis. There are many different DNA collection methods but little evidence on their relative effectiveness. Therefore, we took the opportunity of a prospective case-control study in myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) to compare DNA yield from...