Professor Astrid Fletcher BA PG Dip Phys Anthrop PhD
- Room 248b
- LSHTM
- Keppel Street
- London
- WC1E 7HT
- T: +44 (0)20 7927 2253
- F: +44 (0)20 7580 6897
My first degree in Social Anthropology was followed by Biological Anthropology at postgraduate level. I entered epidemiology with my first post at the Institute of Cancer Research where I worked in cancer epidemiology and at University Collge London where I did my PhD in cervical cancer screening. Later work on hypertension and stroke prevention led me to focus increasingly on the health of the older population.
Affiliation
Teaching
Msc Epidemiology. Chair of the Exam Board in the Distance Learning MSc Epidemiology
Research
My research programme includes studies of the treatment of hypertension, screening for common disabilities and conditions in the elderly, and ophthalmic epidemiology with a focus on age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and cataract. I am the PI of the MRC Study of Older people (originally a trial of comprehensive health screening whose results were published in 2004). The trial cohort of 35,000 people aged 75 years and over has provided a large representative database of the UK older population with continuous mortality accrual. The study has contributed to a number of major publications in the Emerging Risk factor Collaboration led by John Danesh in Cambridge and to the Chronic Kidney Disease Prognosis Consortium. I am co-investigator of the HYVET Trial- a major trial of treatment of hypertension in people aged 80+ which published the main results in NEJM in 2008. I have been involved in collaborative studies in eye research with colleagues in India for the last 20 years, ranging from understanding the barriers to cataract surgery uptake, development of a vision related quality of life instrument to studies investigating the causes of AMD and cataract. I am the Principal Investigator of the seven country European Eye Study (EUREYE) funded by the European Community and the Wellcome funded India Eye Study (INDEYE)of AMD and cataract. Both studies have a particular focus on nutrition and genetics.
Research areas
- Ageing
Disciplines
- Epidemiology
Disease and Health Conditions
- Eye diseases
Regions
- European Union
- South Asia
Countries
- India
Other interests
- Age Related Macular Degeneration
- Cataract
- Cohort Studies
- Complex Surveys
- Multidimensional Assessment
- Nutrient-gene Interactions
- Ophthalmology
- Wellcome Trust
- nutritional epidemiology
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Selected publications
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Treatment of Hypertension in Patients 80 Years of Age or Older.
Beckett, N.S.; Peters, R.; Fletcher, A.E.; Staessen, J.A.; Liu, L.; Dumitrascu, D.; Stoyanovsky, V.; Antikainen, R.L.; Nikitin, Y.; Anderson, C.; Belhani, A.; Forette, F.; Rajkumar, C.; Thijs, L.; Banya, W.; Bulpitt, C.J.; the HYVET Study Group, .;
N Engl J Med, 2008; 358(18):1887-98
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Blood levels of vitamin C, carotenoids and retinol are inversely associated with cataract in a north Indian population.
Dherani, M.; Murthy, G.V.; Gupta, S.K.; Young, I.S.; Maraini, G.; Camparini, M.; Price, G.M.; John, N.; Chakravarthy, U.; Fletcher, A.E.;
Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci, 2008; 49(8):3328-35
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Incident dementia and blood pressure lowering in the Hypertension in the Very Elderly Trial cognitive function assessment (HYVET-COG): a double-blind, placebo controlled trial
Peters, R.; Beckett, N.; Forette, F.; Tuomilehto, J.; Clarke, R.; Ritchie, C.; Waldman, A.; Walton, I.; Poulter, R.; Ma, S.; Comsa, M.; Burch, L.; Fletcher, A.; Bulpitt, C.
Lancet Neurol, 2008; 7(8):683-9
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Oily fish consumption, dietary docosahexaenoic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid intakes, and associations with neovascular age-related macular degeneration.
Augood, C.; Chakravarthy, U.; Young, I.; Vioque, J.; de Jong, P.T.; Bentham, G.; Rahu, M.; Seland, J.; Soubrane, G.; Tomazzoli, L.; Topouzis, F.; Vingerling, J.R.; Fletcher, A.E.;
Am J Clin Nutr, 2008; 88(2):398-406
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Weight, shape, and mortality risk in older persons: elevated waist-hip ratio, not high body mass index, is associated with a greater risk of death.
Price, G.M.; Uauy, R.; Breeze, E.; Bulpitt, C.J.; Fletcher, A.E.;
Am J Clin Nutr, 2006; 84(2):449-60
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Vulnerability to winter mortality in elderly people in Britain: population based study.
Wilkinson, P.; Pattenden, S.; Armstrong, B.; Fletcher, A.; Kovats, R.S.; Mangtani, P.; McMichael, A.J.;
British Medical Journal, 2004; 329(7467):647
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Population-based multidimensional assessment of older people in UK general practice: a cluster-randomised factorial trial.
Fletcher, A.E.; Price, G.M.; Ng, E.S.; Stirling, S.L.; Bulpitt, C.J.; Breeze, E.; Nunes, M.; Jones, D.A.; Latif, A.; Fasey, N.M.; Vickers, M.R.; Tulloch, A.J.;
Lancet, 2004; 364(9446):1667-77
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