Research priorities for cancers of the oesophagus and stomach: recommendations from a UK and Ireland patient and healthcare professional partnership exercise.
Research priorities for cancers of the oesophagus and stomach: recommendations from a UK and Ireland patient and healthcare professional partnership exercise.
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.
BARRETT'S OESOPHAGUS, GASTRIC CANCER, OESOPHAGEAL CANCER
1949-1961
Jones, Christopher M.
2bd933d3-8f35-43b5-ae56-376e806b08fa
Ng, Wee Han
3ce2ef75-06b7-49d3-b67c-f01130cce0db
Tincknell, Laura
ac68629f-be4c-46ce-9567-5ceabe91d59c
Grocott, Mike
1e87b741-513e-4a22-be13-0f7bb344e8c2
Underwood, Timothy J.
8e81bf60-edd2-4b0e-8324-3068c95ea1c6
Jones, Christopher M.
2bd933d3-8f35-43b5-ae56-376e806b08fa
Ng, Wee Han
3ce2ef75-06b7-49d3-b67c-f01130cce0db
Tincknell, Laura
ac68629f-be4c-46ce-9567-5ceabe91d59c
Grocott, Mike
1e87b741-513e-4a22-be13-0f7bb344e8c2
Underwood, Timothy J.
8e81bf60-edd2-4b0e-8324-3068c95ea1c6
Jones, Christopher M., Ng, Wee Han and Tincknell, Laura
,
et al.
(2025)
Research priorities for cancers of the oesophagus and stomach: recommendations from a UK and Ireland patient and healthcare professional partnership exercise.
Gut, 74 (12), .
(doi:10.1136/gutjnl-2025-336421).
Abstract
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.
Text
1949.full
- Version of Record
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 28 August 2025
e-pub ahead of print date: 10 November 2025
Keywords:
BARRETT'S OESOPHAGUS, GASTRIC CANCER, OESOPHAGEAL CANCER
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 507771
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/507771
ISSN: 1468-3288
PURE UUID: 51e1a631-de66-46e9-aaa0-b96e72cd0011
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 06 Jan 2026 14:05
Last modified: 08 Jan 2026 02:46
Export record
Altmetrics
Contributors
Author:
Christopher M. Jones
Author:
Wee Han Ng
Author:
Laura Tincknell
Corporate Author: et al.
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics
