Dr Stephen Bremner, BSc (Hons) MSc PhD
Lecturer in Medical Statistics
email: s.a.bremner@qmul.ac.uk
Phone: +44 (0)20 7882 2547
Fax: +44 (0)20 7882 2552
Centre for Primary Care and Public Health
Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry
58 Turner Street
Whitechapel
London
E1 2AB
After completing a BSc in mathematical sciences (Strathclyde University, 1995) and an MSc in medical statistics (London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, 1996), Stephen spent three years as a statistician at St. George’s Hospital Medical School, London, working on studies of the short term effects of air pollution on health. In 1999 he travelled to Sao Paulo and spent eight months at the Brazilian Cochrane Centre supporting clinicians doing systematic reviews. Returning to St. George’s, in 2001 he embarked on a PhD in which he carried out case-control studies, nested in birth cohorts from two primary care databases, to investigate early life risk factors for childhood hay fever. He also worked on a large and unique systematic review of air pollution and health. In 2007, employed as a statistician at the Healthcare Commission in London, Stephen analysed Hospital Episode Statistics and data from the NHS Surveys Programme. He joined the Centre in January 2008.
Research interests:
Stephen is involved in three cluster-randomised trials:
- OPERA (CI: Martin Underwood) is a study of the effectiveness of exercise for depression in residential and nursing homes in Warwickshire and NE London.
- In FIAT (CI: Stefan Priebe), a small financial incentive is provided by mental health outreach teams to increase adherence to depot medication in poorly compliant patients with severe mental illness.
- In RHIVA 2 (CI: Werner Leber), rapid HIV screening is being offered to newly registering patients at a random selection of Hackney GP surgeries.
Together with Sandra Eldridge, Stephen is exploring the cumulative behaviour of the intra-cluster correlation coefficient in trials with different recruitment strategies. He is also investigating the phased effect of London's Low Emissions Zone (LEZ Study) on respiratory health in successive cross-sections of eight-year-old children in east London (CI: Chris Griffiths). Stephen is seconded one day per week to the Unit for Social and Community Psychiatry at the Newham Centre for Mental Health where he provides statistical input to a wide variety of research studies, including CONNECT (CI: Stefan Priebe), a study of long-term social and clinical outcomes after war experiences in ex-Yugoslavia. Previously he collaborated on several time series and panel studies, in England and in Brazil, investigating the short-term health effects of air pollution.
Postgraduate supervision:
Stephen co-leads and lectures on the MSc in Public Health core module 'Introduction to Epidemiology and Statistics'. From October 2011, he will be the lead supervisor on a PhD project entitled “Choosing covariates in cluster randomised trials”.
Publications:
Selected publications
Miles CL, Pincus T, Carnes D, Homer KE, Taylor SJC, Bremner SA, Rahman A, Underwood M. Can we identify how programmes aimed at promoting self-management in musculoskeletal pain work and who benefits? A systematic review of sub-group analysis within RCTs. Eur J Pain 2011;doi:10.1016/j.ejpain.2011.01.016 [in press]
Peacock JL, Anderson HR, Bremner SA, Marston L, Seemungal TA, Strachan DP, Wedzicha JA. Outdoor air pollution and respiratory health in patients with COPD. Thorax 2011;doi:10.1136/thx.2010.155358
Mathur R, Badrick E, Boomla K, Bremner S, Hull S, Robson J Prescribing in general practice for people with coronary heart disease; equity by age, sex, ethnic group and deprivation. Ethnicity and Health 2011;doi:10.1080/13557858.2010.540312
Raleigh VS, Cooper J, Bremner SA, Scobie S. Patient safety indicators for England from hospital administrative data: case-control analysis and comparison with US data. BMJ 2008;337:a1702
Bremner SA, Carey IM, DeWilde S, Richards N, Maier WC, Hilton SR et al. Infections presenting for clinical care in early life and later risk of hay fever in two UK birth cohorts. Allergy 2008; 63(3):274-283.
Bremner SA, Carey IM, DeWilde S, Richards N, Maier WC, Hilton SR et al. Vaccinations, infections and antibacterials in the first grass pollen season of life and risk of later hayfever. Clin Exp Allergy 2007; 37(4):512-517.
Bremner SA, Carey IM, DeWilde S, Richards N, Maier WC, Hilton SR et al. Timing of routine immunisations and subsequent hay fever risk. Arch Dis Child 2005; 90(6):567-573.
Gouveia N, Bremner SA, Novaes HM. Association between ambient air pollution and birth weight in Sao Paulo, Brazil. J Epidemiol Community Health 2004; 58(1):11-17.
Bremner SA, Carey IM, DeWilde S, Richards N, Maier WC, Hilton SR et al. Early-life exposure to antibacterials and the subsequent development of hayfever in childhood in the UK: case-control studies using the General Practice Research Database and the Doctors' Independent Network. Clin Exp Allergy 2003; 33(11):1518-1525.
Anderson HR, Bremner SA, Atkinson RW, Harrison RM, Walters S. Particulate matter and daily mortality and hospital admissions in the west midlands conurbation of the United Kingdom: associations with fine and coarse particles, black smoke and sulphate. Occup Environ Med 2001; 58(8):504-510.