Dr Andy Dickens MSc, PhD

Department of Applied Health Sciences
Honorary Research Fellow

Contact details

Telephone: +44 (0)121 414 7422
Email: a.p.dickens@bham.ac.uk
Twitter: @ap_dickens

Address: The Murray Learning Centre
Institute of Applied Health Research
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Andy is an Honorary Research Fellow for the Institute of Applied Health Research, University of Birmingham. Andy is Lead Research Fellow for Breathe Well; an NIHR-funded Global Health Research Group on COPD in Primary Care. The aim of the programme is to foster research in primary care and the community to improve the diagnosis, management and prognosis of COPD patients in low and middle income countries.

Andy Dickens is also the Research Fellow on an NIHR-funded research programme entitled 'The Birmingham Lung Improvement Studies (BLISS)'.

Qualifications

PhD in Medical Studies, University of Exeter, 2010
MSc in Social Research, University of Plymouth, 2003
BA (Hons) in Social Policy, University of York, 1999

Biography

Andy joined the University of Birmingham in 2011, having previously been at the Primary Care Research Group at Peninsula Medical School (Exeter) from 2003-2011, where he completed his PhD.

Over the past 18 years Andy has worked in a range of research areas within public health and health service research, developing particular research interests in respiratory disease, health outcomes for older people and complex interventions.

Teaching

Medicine and Surgery MBChB:

1st year MBChB Research Methods small group tutor
3rd year MBChB Evidence Based Medicine & Research Methods small group tutor

Research

Breathe Well programme

Within the Breathe Well programme, University researchers are working with four LMICs – Brazil, China, Georgia and Macedonia. The aim is to co-develop the capability, networks & platform to deliver targeted and effective research and healthcare outcomes in COPD, specifically to:

strengthen local research capacity in the partner countries in community-based COPD research & generic population research methods
develop and test community-based & culturally-appropriate approaches for identifying undiagnosed COPD in low resource countries
adapt evidence-based behavioural approaches for management of COPD according to cultural needs and the local healthcare infrastructure, and assess the feasibility of their implementation
build a robust platform for future collaborative research within the partner countries and other similar settings

Bliss

Further information about the Birmingham Lung Improvement Studies is available at www.birmingham.ac.uk/bliss

Other activities

Andy sits on the research sub-committee for the International Primary Care Research Group (IPCRG).

Publications

Pan Z; Dickens AP; Chi C; Kong X; Enocson A; Adab P; Cheng KK; Sitch A; Jowett S, Jordan RE on behalf of the Breathe Well Group. A study to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of different screening strategies for identifying undiagnosed COPD amongst residents (≥40 years) in four cities in China: protocol for a multicenter cross-sectional study. On behalf of the Breathe Well group. BMJ Open. 10:e035738. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2019-035738

Haroon S, Adab P, Dickens AP, Sitch A, Rai K, Enocson A, Fitzmaurice DA, Jordan RE. 2020. The impact of COPD case finding on clinical care: a prospective analysis of the TargetCOPD trial. BMJ Open. 10:e038286. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2020-038286

Gjorgjievski D, Ristovska R, Stavrikj K, Farley A, Adab P, Adams R, Dickens A, Enocson A, Stanoevski G, Gale N, Jowett S, Rai K, Sitch A, Stamenova A, Krstevska E, Jordan R. 2020. Effectiveness of Combining Feedback about Lung Age or Exhaled Carbon Monoxide Levels with Very Brief Advice (VBA) and Support for Smoking Cessation in Primary Care Compared to Giving VBA and Support Alone – Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial within the Breathe Well Research Program.Open Access Macedonian Journal of Medical Sciences. 8(E):1-9. https://doi.org/10.3889/oamjms.2020.4519

Dickens AP, Fitzmaurice D, Adab P, Sitch A, Riley RD, Enocson A, Jordan R. 2020. Accuracy of Vitalograph lung monitor as a screening test for COPD in primary care.npj Primary Care Respiratory Medicine. 30:2; https://doi.org/10.1038/s41533-019-0158-2

Keene SJ; Jordan RE; Franssen FME; de Vries F; Martin J; Sitch A; Turner A; Dickens AP; Fitzmaurice D; Adab P. 2019. External validation of the updated ADO score in COPD patients from the Birmingham COPD cohort. International Journal of COPD. 14: 2395–2407 http://doi.org/10.2147/COPD.S212381

Enocson A, Jolly K, Jordan R, Fitzmaurice D, Greenfield S, Adab P, Cheng K, Cooper BG, Daley A, Dickens A, O'Beirne-Elliman J, Haroon S, Jowett S, Kalirai K, Marsh J, Miller MR, Riley R., Stockley R, Turner A. 2018. Case-finding for COPD in Primary Care: A qualitative study of patients’ perspectives. International Journal of COPD. https://doi.org/10.2147/COPD.S147718

Miller MR, Haroon S, Jordan RE, Sitch A, Dickens AP, Enocson A, Fitzmaurice DA, Adab P. 2018. Clinical characteristics of patients newly diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease by the fixed ratio and lower limit of normal criteria: a cross-sectional analysis of the TargetCOPD trial. International Journal of COPD. 13: 1979-1986. https://doi.org/10.2147/COPD.S146914

Brien SB, Stuart B, Dickens AP, Kendrick T, Jordan RE, Adab P, Thomas M. Independent determinants of disease-related quality of life in COPD - scope for non-pharmacological interventions? International Journal of COPD. 13: 247-256 doi: https://doi.org/10.2147/COPD.S152955

View all publications in research portal