PRIMROSE

Prediction and management of cardiovascular risk for people with severe mental illness

Principal Investigator	Professor David Osborne, UCL
Co-Investigators	Professor Thomas Barnes (Imperial College London), Professor Thomas Craig (Kings College London), Professor Richard Holt (University of Southampton), Claire Johnston (Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust), Professor Michael King (UCL), Dr Louise Marston (UCL), Professor Susan Michie (UCL), Professor Richard Morris (UCL) Professor, Stephen Morris (UCL), Professor Irwin Nazareth (UCL), Dr Rumana Omar (UCL), Dr Irene Peterson (UCL), Professor Robert Peveler (University of Southampton), Dr Kate Walters (UCL)
Additional UCL team members	Dr Lou Atkins, Ruth Blackburn, Alexandra Burton, Dr Sarah Hardoon, Dr Rachael Hunter, Louise Marston, Professor Stephen Morris, Hazel Gilbert, Professor Aroon Hingorari, Professor Patrick Royston, Dr Fiona Stevenson
Funder	NIHR - Programme Grant
Project start and end dates	2011 - 2017
Project website	http://www.ucl.ac.uk/primrose

Project details

The PRIMROSE project is a five-year programme of research containing three related work packages. The evidence from each work package will be brought together to finalise a service for reducing cardiovascular disease risk in people with severe mental illnesses in primary care. The service will involve practice nurses working closely with people with severe mental illnesses to reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease. The cost-effectiveness of the service is being assessed in a cluster randomised trial. The study comprises three work packages;

The aim of Work Package 1 is to develop and validate a cardiovascular risk prediction tool which is specific to people with severe mental illnesses.
The development phase of the programme (Work Package 2) involves reviewing the best available evidence of effective behavioural and pharmacological interventions for reducing cardiovascular disease risk in people with severe mental illnesses. Focus groups were also conducted with primary care staff, service users, carers and community mental health team workers to inform the development of a new package of care to reduce cardiovascular risk in people with severe mental illnesses.
The final phase of the programme (Work Package 3) involves a cluster randomised controlled trial to test the cost-effectiveness of an intervention to reduce cardiovascular disease risk in people with severe mental illnesses in primary care. 380 patients from 38 GP practices were recruited across the UK. Recruitment began in October 2013.