Liam Glynn

University of Limerick | UL · School of Medicine

Background Chronic musculoskeletal pain is a key societal challenge in Ireland, affecting one in three adults over the age of 50, with societal and healthcare costs of over €5.34 billion per year. Physical activity can form a key part of the management of people living with chronic pain, along with providing a myriad of health-enhancing and disease...

Introduction For more than a century, Hand hygiene (HH) has been known to be the most cost-effective hygienic method to minimize infection transmission and risk in healthcare settings. Even though 50% of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) can be prevented with proper HH, globally 7 per 100 patients from acute-care hospitals in high-income coun...

Introduction: Rural communities can experience more barriers to accessing health care than their urban counterparts, largely due to fewer healthcare staff and services, and geographical isolation. The purpose of this study is to examine the availability of GP practices in rural communities across the Mid-West of Ireland and the potential impact of...

Background General practice (GP) is crucial to primary care delivery in the Republic of Ireland and is almost fully computerised. General practice teams were the first point of contact for much COVID-19-related care and there were concerns routine healthcare activities could be disrupted due to COVID-19 and related restrictions. Aims The study aim...

Background Between 1990 and 2017, stroke cases nearly doubled, ranking as the second leading cause of death and disability globally. Inadequate physical activity (PA) is a leading risk factor. Recent guidelines advise stroke survivors to follow population-based PA guidelines. Given stroke heterogeneity personalised PA interventions are recommended....

Background The Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-EPI) equation tends to overestimate glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and has limitation in younger and older age groups, while the European Kidney Function Consortium (EKFC) full-age spectrum (FAS) correct for these problems and provide better performance in estimating GFR. We co...

Background. Changing demographics has led to healthcare systems reorientating healthcare delivery towards the community setting and implementing integrated models of care worldwide. This systematic review examines the effectiveness of community-based multidisciplinary integrated care strategies with general practitioner (GP) participation for commu...

Introduction Engaging in regular physical activity (PA) is associated with lower mortality following stroke, and PA reduces the chance of recurrent stroke. Despite recent guidelines to optimise PA following stroke, people with stroke are known to be less active than their age-matched counterparts. Given the heterogenous nature of stroke, adaptive P...

Background Move for Life (MFL) is a theory-informed intervention that was developed to augment established physical activity (PA) programmes and enable inactive adults aged 50 years and older to be more active. This study examined the feasibility of MFL and sought to provide evidence of its potential for improving PA and associated health outcomes....

Background Public and patient involvement (PPI) is important in stroke research to ensure that research conducted reflects the priorities and needs of people after stroke. Several factors have been found to affect PPI, including location of the research and time requirements for participation. The incidence of stroke is rising, and can result in sy...

Aim Older adults comprise a growing proportion of Emergency Department (ED) attendees and are vulnerable to adverse outcomes following an ED visit including ED reattendance within 30 days. Interventions to reduce older adults’ risk of adverse outcomes following an ED attendance are proliferating and often focus on improving the transition from the...

Physical activity (PA) is recommended as a key component in the management of people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The objective of this study was to examine the feasibility of a physiotherapist led, behaviour change (BC) theory-informed, intervention to promote PA in people with RA who have low levels of current PA. A feasibility randomised tria...

Introduction Stroke is the second-leading cause of death and disability globally. Participation in physical activity (PA) is a cornerstone of secondary prevention in stroke care. Given the heterogeneous nature of stroke, PA interventions that are adaptive to individual performance are recommended. Mobile health (mHealth) has been identified as a po...

Objective To systematically map the coach education (CE) component of injury prevention programmes (IPPs) for youth field sports by identifying and synthesising the design, content and facilitation strategies used to address competency drivers and behaviour change. Design Scoping review. Data sources PubMed, PsycInfo, EMBASE, CINAHL, SportDiscus...

Objective To determine the evidence for non-specific effects of the Pneumococcal and Haemophilus influenza vaccine in children aged 5 years and under. Data sources A key word literature search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, the European Union Clinical Trials Register and ClinicalTrials.gov up to June 2023....

Background Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA) is a multidimensional interdisciplinary process that addresses an older adult’s biopsychosocial capabilities to create an integrated and co-ordinated plan of care. While quantitative evidence that demonstrates the positive impacts of CGA on clinical and process outcomes has been synthesised, to da...

Background Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has had a significant impact on clinical research. This paper aims to provide an insight into how the COVID-19 pandemic, associated public health restrictions and international guidance on the conduct of clinical research impacted two clinical rheumatology research trials - the Physiotherapist-led Inte...

Introduction: International conferences offer an excellent opportunity for career development and are global academic opportunities with the potential to foster educational and professional growth. However, equitable access to participation and meaningful involvement in such events remains an issue. In this article we describe the novel Rural Earl...

Background Ireland, like most counties worldwide, has an ageing population. It is estimated that there will be greater than one million older adults by 2031, demonstrating an increase from 13% (2015) to 20% of the overall population. Physical inactivity, which increases with age, is associated with greater multimorbidity, mortality and economic bur...

Background Engaging in regular Physical Activity (PA) is associated with lower mortality post-stroke, and PA reduces the chance of recurrent stroke. Despite recent guidelines to optimise PA post-stroke, people with stroke are known to be less active than their age-matched counterparts. Given the heterogenous nature of stroke, PA interventions, whic...

Purpose The Music and Movement for Health study is a pragmatic cluster-randomised controlled feasibility trial that aims to assess the feasibility of an innovative music and dance intervention that was developed to promote health and wellbeing of community dwelling older adults in Ireland. This study also aims to obtain preliminary data on the effe...

PURPOSE: As a result of COVID-19 and the associated lockdowns in Ireland limited rugby training and matches occurred during the 2020/21 nine-month season (September to May). In October 2020 collective training and rugby matches were suspended for the season. This study aimed to assess the potential impact of this lack of training and playing on mat...

Purpose: Rugby Union is a high-intensity invasion game with risk of injury. Global and national governing bodies continue to prioritize the development of strategies aimed at reducing injuries, and research in this area is paramount. A warm-up intervention aimed at reducing injuries, tailored to a specific target cohort (Irish adult amateur) was de...

Abstract Background Abnormalities of serum sodium are associated with increased mortality risk in hospitalised patients, but it is unclear whether, and to what extent other factors influence this relationship. We investigated the impact of dysnatraemia on total and cause-specific mortality in the Irish health system while exploring the concurrent i...

Background Exercise is the recommended first-line therapy for a degenerative meniscal tear (DMT). Despite this, knee pain attributed to DMTs are a common presentation to specialist orthopaedic clinics. In the primary care setting, the general practitioner (GP) plays a central role in managing patients with knee pain, but to date their perspective h...

PURPOSE: In many team sports the use of synthetic artificial pitch playing surfaces is common, especially when the playing season spans winter. In amateur community Rugby Union in Ireland there is a mix of both artificial and natural grass surfaces used for training and matches and a need to examine whether there may be injury trends unique to eith...

Background: Arts-based health programmes (ABHP) can enhance the physical and psychosocial health and wellbeing of older people. However, the feasibility and usefulness of such programmes in Ireland are currently unknown. The primary aim of this study is to examine the feasibility of the study design, its application to a music and movement for heal...

Background Optimising blood pressure (BP) control is one of the most important modifiable risk factors in preventing subsequent stroke where the risk increases by one-third for every 10 mmHg rise in systolic BP. This study evaluated the feasibility and potential effectiveness of blood pressure self-monitoring with planned medication titration, to i...

The 19th World Rural Health Conference, hosted in rural Ireland and the University of Limerick, with over 650 participants coming from 40 countries and an additional 1600 engaging online, has carefully considered how best rural communities can be empowered to improve their own health and the health of those around them. The conference also consider...

Introduction: Physical activity (PA) interventions incorporating behaviour change (BC) theory are needed to improve PA levels in people with rheumatoid arthritis. A pilot feasibility study of a Physiotherapist-led Intervention to Promote PA in Rheumatoid Arthritis (PIPPRA) was undertaken to obtain estimates for recruitment rate, participant retent...

Introduction: Physical activity (PA) is an important component in improving the health of people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). A Physiotherapist-led Intervention to Promote PA in people with RA (PIPPRA) was undertaken using the Behaviour Change (BC) Wheel. A qualitative study was conducted post intervention involving participants and healthcare...

Introduction: Over a third of Irish people live rurally. However, only a fifth of Irish general practices are located in rural communities and longstanding issues such as distance to other health services, professional isolation, and recruitment and retention of rural healthcare professionals (HCPs) threaten rural general practice's sustainability...

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused huge disruption to all communities and health care worldwide. This ongoing pandemic has encouraged international collaboration and cooperation, and this important activity needs to intensify further. Open Data sharing offers researchers the opportunity to compare public health and political responses...

Background: As prevalence of multimorbidity and polypharmacy rise, healthcare systems must respond to these challenges. Data are needed from general practice on specific metrics of healthcare utilisation. This research aims to establish the rates of attendance to general practice and referral to hospital; and how age, multi-morbidity and polypharm...

Introduction: General practice (GP) in Ireland is almost entirely computerised. Computerised records hold great potential for large-scale data analyses but existing software packages do not readily provide such analyses. For a profession facing considerable workforce and workload challenges, harnessing GP electronic medical record (EMR) data can f...

Background: Optimising Blood Pressure (BP) control is one of the most important modifiable risk factors in preventing subsequent stroke where the risk increases by one-third for every 10 mmHg rise in systolic BP. The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and effects of BP self-monitoring in patients with a previous stroke or TIA in Ire...

Introduction: Currently, more than 1.6 million Irish people live rurally. Rural populations in Ireland are older and have more health needs compared with younger urban areas. Meanwhile, since 1982, the proportion of general practices in rural areas has decreased by 10%. In this study, we look at new survey data to investigate the needs and challen...

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic required rapid dissemination of accurate information across the world to both healthcare workers and the general public. Social media represents an opportunity to undertake this. The aim of this study was to analyse a healthcare worker education campaign in Africa delivered through the social media platform Face...

Background: Hypertension is a major risk factor for cardiovascular events with only a minority of people treated to satisfactory levels. There is an increasing body of literature pertaining to the beneficial effect of self-blood pressure monitoring (SBPM) on blood pressure control in hypertensive patients. It is cost-effective, well tolerated, and...

Introduction: The 'Inverse Care Law' suggests the availability of good medical care tends to vary inversely with the needs of the local population. Dr Julian Tudor Hart's observations related to lack of access to care for those in both socially deprived and geographically remote areas. In this study, we aim to examine if the 'Inverse Care Law' is...

Unlabelled: Introduction (including aim): There is a lack of community-based programmes for older adults in Ireland. Such activities are vital to enable older people to (re)connect after COVID-19 measures, which had a detrimental effect on physical function, mental health and socialisation. The aims of the preliminary phases of the Music and Movem...

Introduction The increasing number of older adults with multiple complex care needs has placed increased pressure on healthcare systems internationally to reorientate healthcare delivery. For many older adults, their first point of contact with the health service is with their general practitioner (GP) and GP participation with integrated care mode...

Background Critical care bed capacity per capita in Ireland is among the lowest in Europe. The COVID‐19 pandemic has put additional strain on an over‐stretched healthcare system. COVID‐19 community assessment hubs (CAHs) were established to prevent unnecessary admission to acute hospitals and to reduce infection spread. Objective The aim of this s...

Background Exercise is the recommended first-line therapy for a degenerative meniscal tear (DMT). Despite this, knee pain attributed to DMTs is a common presentation to specialist orthopaedic clinics. In the primary care setting, the general practitioner (GP) plays a central role in managing patients with knee pain, but to date their perspective ha...

Background: This Clinical Practice Guideline (CPG) for the management of obesity in adults in Ireland, adapted from the Canadian CPG, defines obesity as a complex chronic disease characterised by excess or dysfunctional adiposity that impairs health. The guideline reflects substantial advances in the understanding of the determinants, pathophysiol...

Background: Despite recent advances in acute stroke intervention, secondary prevention strategies are lacking. Physical activity (PA) is the second-largest predictor of stroke and a cornerstone of secondary prevention therapies. Interventions to promote PA post-stroke include components aimed at reducing sedentary behaviour and increasing participa...

Background While international guidelines recommend medication reviews as part of the management of multimorbidity, evidence on how to implement reviews in practice in primary care is lacking. The MyComrade (MultimorbiditY Collaborative Medication Review And Decision Making) intervention is an evidence-based, theoretically informed novel interventi...

Background Substantial evidence shows that meeting physical activity guidelines is important for disease prevention, promoting physical and mental health and quality of life. In Ireland, only 38% of older adults are sufficiently active to meet the guidelines. The primary aim of this research was to conduct a feasibility study of the Move for Life i...

Background Physical activity contributes to the prevention of chronic illness as well as promotion of physical and mental health, but most adults remain inactive. Chronic illness affects mainly middle aged and older adults, and very little objectively measured data on physical activity behaviours and associated health outcomes of this population is...

Background The evidence-based interventions of exercise and education have been strongly recommended as part of prominent clinical guidelines for hip and knee osteoarthritis (OA) for more than ten years. Despite the wealth of strong evidence that exists, implementation in practice is sub-optimal. This paper describes the key methodologies used in t...

Objective: The aim of this systematic review was to identify prospectively measured ankle sprain risk factors in field-based team contact sports. Methods: Eight databases including SPORTDiscus, CINAHL Complete, MEDLINE (EBSCO), Education Source, Web of Science, Scopus, Embase and Pubmed were searched using specific Boolean terms. A modified-CASP...

Background Physical activity (PA) is an important component in the management of people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) (1). Interventions incorporating Behaviour Change (BC) theory are needed to target physically inactive people with RA. The study Physiotherapist-led Intervention to Promote Physical Activity in Rheumatoid Arthritis (PIPPRA) was des...

Background: Arts-based health programmes (ABHP) can enhance the physical and psychosocial health and wellbeing of older people. However, the feasibility and usefulness of such programmes in Ireland are currently unknown. The primary aim of this study is to examine the feasibility of the study design, its application to a music and movement for heal...

Background Physical activity is an important component in the management of people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) [1]. A Physiotherapist-led Intervention to Promote Physical Activity in people with RA (PIPPRA) was undertaken using the Behaviour Change Wheel, with the aim of examining the feasibility of promoting physical activity in RA. This qualit...

Against a backdrop of Article 13 of the UNCRPD and recommendations from the Council of Europe CPT, this paper describes the design, delivery and evaluation of an intellectual disabilities and mental health awareness programme for general practitioners attending Garda (Police) stations in Ireland.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS It is increasingly recognized that disparities in health care utilisation and associated clinical outcomes exist between men and women. Whether these sex disparities extend to patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) is not well known. The primary goal of this study was to compare hospitalisation rates between men and women in...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Chronic kidney disease is associated with higher mortality compared with the general population, but mortality differences between men and women with CKD are poorly understood. Although the prevalence of CKD is consistently higher in women than in men, emerging studies suggest that men experience poorer survival. The primary goa...

Background The ‘MED-WELL’ programme is a combined exercise and educational intervention designed to promote well-being among medical students and educate students about prescribing exercise as medicine in clinical practice. Due to COVID-19 public health restrictions of social distancing the ‘MED-WELL’ programme was offered online instead of in-pers...

Background While international guidelines recommend medication reviews as part of the management of multimorbidity, evidence on how to implement reviews in practice in primary care is lacking. The MultimorbiditY Collaborative Medication Review And Decision Making (MyComrade) intervention is an evidence-based, theoretically informed novel interventi...

Objective This study aims to gather public opinion on the Irish “COVID Tracker” digital contact tracing (DCT) App, with particular focus on App usage, usability, usefulness, technological issues encountered, and potential changes to the App. Methods A 35-item online questionnaire was deployed for 10 days in October 2020, 3 months after the launch...

Aim Physical Activity (PA) and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) both have positive effects on medical student well-being. The 'MED-WELL' programme is a curricular intervention that combines PA and education on exercise as medicine. This trial evaluates whether there is a mean difference in outcomes of participants of an exercise interventi...

Background As prevalence of multimorbidity and polypharmacy rise, health care systems must respond to these challenges. Data is needed from general practice regarding the impact of age, number of chronic illnesses and medications on specific metrics of healthcare utilisation. Methods This was a retrospective study of general practices in a univers...

Background Optimising Blood Pressure (BP) control is one of the most important modifiable risk factors in preventing subsequent stroke where the risk increases by one-third for every 10 mmHg rise in systolic BP. The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and effects of blood pressure self-monitoring with planned medication titration, in...

Aims: Because evidence regarding risk stratification predicting prognosis of patients with heart failure (HF) decompensation attended in primary care is lacking, we developed and externally validated a model to forecast death/hospitalization during the first 30 days after an episode of decompensation. The predictive model is based on variables eas...

Most adults do not meet physical activity guidelines with negative implications for health. The aim of this study was to profile adults using multiple physical activity behaviours and to investigate associations with chronic conditions, multi-morbidity and healthcare utilisation. The study used data generated from a sample of adults aged 45 years a...

Background Rugby participation rates are rising, particularly in the female game where a 60% increase in player numbers was observed from 2013 to 2017. Despite the recent growth, the female amateur game is lacking comprehensive long-term injury surveillance. Objective To compare injuries in male and female amateur Rugby Union. Design Prospective...

Background : The University of XXX Cancer network (ULCaN) was established in 2019 with funding from the Health Research Institute at the University of Limerick in order to build a network between individuals in academia, primary and secondary care and the general public so that cancer services can be coordinated and more effective. The aim of this...

Background : High quality data should be a key resource for research and planning of healthcare, but low quality general practice data has been documented internationally. This study assessed the feasibility of collecting reliable chronic disease data in Irish general practice, using a program of training and feedback to improve the quality of codi...

Background The shoulder has been reported as a frequent location of injury in adult professional and amateur rugby, with match injury incidence rates ranging from 1.8 to 3 per 1000 player-hours (h). An increased understanding of the incidence and mechanism of shoulder injuries in school rugby players is vital to establish effective injury preventiv...

Background: Cancer survivorship in Ireland is increasing in both frequency and longevity. However, a significant proportion of cancer survivors do not reach the recommended physical activity levels and have overweight. This has implications for both physical and psychological health, including an increased risk of subsequent and secondary cancers....