Browse by author
Lookup NU author(s): Emeritus Professor Greg RubinORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).
© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2025. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ Group.Background Cancers of the oesophagus and stomach are a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Research is crucial to improving outcomes. However, to maximise value and impact, areas of focus should be prioritised in partnership with patients. Objective We undertook a comprehensive analysis of UK and Ireland patient and healthcare professional (HCP) priorities for research into oesophagogastric cancers across the domains of prevention, diagnosis and staging, treatment, palliative care and survivorship. Design A scoping exercise sourced research questions from patients and HCPs. These were consolidated and then confirmed by systematic review to represent a true research uncertainty. Research questions were scored on potential impact by an interdisciplinary group of HCPs and prioritised using a weighting derived from a patient survey. Results There were 835 (395 HCP, 440 patient) respondents to the scoping (n=455) and prioritisation (n=380) surveys. Across these, 4295 suggested research uncertainties were consolidated to 92 uncertainties that were prioritised. HCP respondents represented 25 professional groups from community and hospital settings. Patient weighting changed 22.2–46.3% of priority rankings established by HCPs. All domains were represented by the 20 highest priority questions, 5 of which focused on personalising and optimally combining treatment modalities. Two other key themes related to optimising nutrition and improving quality of life during and after treatment, including in patients not cured of their cancer. Conclusion This work highlights the impact of patient input on HCP-ranked research priorities and provides a robust list of priorities to guide funders, policymakers and researchers to support and undertake impactful research.
Author(s): Jones CM, Ng WH, Tincknell L, McClurg DP, Adam E, Bhandari P, Campbell K, Chambers P, Ciccarelli F, Coleman HG, Crosby T, Doyle C, Dunn JM, Elliott J, Fitzgerald RC, Foley KG, Goh V, Grabsch HI, Graham TA, Grocott M, Gwynne S, Harvey J, Jansen M, Lagergren P, Lamb C, Leigh-Doyle L, Malik F, Mayland C, McCord M, Moss A, Mukherjee S, Petty R, Rananaware S, Reid J, Rubin G, Smyth E, Trudgill NJ, Turkington RC, Underwood TJ, Walter FM, Williams J, Peters CJ
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Gut
Year: 2025
Volume: 74
Issue: 12
Pages: 1949-1961
Online publication date: 10/11/2025
Acceptance date: 28/08/2025
Date deposited: 27/11/2025
ISSN (print): 0017-5749
ISSN (electronic): 1468-3288
Publisher: BMJ Publishing Group
URL: https://doi.org/10.1136/gutjnl-2025-336421
DOI: 10.1136/gutjnl-2025-336421
Data Access Statement: Data are available upon reasonable request. The dataset summarised here is available from the corresponding authors on reasonable request.
PubMed id: 40947137
Altmetrics provided by Altmetric
