Papers by Mohamed Mhereeg
BMC Medicine, Jul 19, 2023
Background To determine the extent and nature of changes associated with COVID-19 infection in te... more Background To determine the extent and nature of changes associated with COVID-19 infection in terms of healthcare utilisation, this study observed healthcare contact 1 to 4 and 5 to 24 weeks following a COVID-19 diagnosis compared to propensity-matched controls. Methods Two hundred forty nine thousand three hundred ninety Welsh individuals with a positive reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test were identified from data from national PCR test results. After elimination criteria, 98,600 positive individuals were matched to test negative and never tested controls using propensity matching. Cohorts were split on test location. Tests could be taken in either the hospital or community. Controls were those who had tested negative in their respective environments. Survival analysis was utilised for first clinical outcomes which are grouped into primary and secondary. Primary outcomes include post-viral-illness and fatigue as an indication of long-COVID. Secondary outcomes include clinical terminology concepts for embolism, respiratory conditions, mental health conditions, fit notes, or hospital attendance. Increased instantaneous risk for positive individuals was quantified using hazard ratios (HR) from Cox regression, while absolute risk (AR) and relative risk were quantified using life table analysis. Results Analysis was conducted using all individuals and stratified by test location. Cases are compared to controls from the same test location. Fatigue (HR: 1.77, 95% CI: 1.34-2.25, p = < 0.001) and embolism (HR: 1.50, 95% CI: 1.15-1.97, p = 0.003) were more likely to occur in all positive individuals in the first 4 weeks; however, anxiety and depression (HR: 0.83, 95% CI: 0.73-0.95, p = 0.007) were less likely. Positive individuals continued to be more at risk of fatigue (HR: 1.47, 95% CI: 1.24-1.75, p = < 0.001) and embolism (HR: 1.51, 95% CI: 1.13-2.02, p = 0.005) after 4 weeks. All positive individuals are also at greater risk of post-viral illness (HR: 4.57, 95% CI: 1.77-11.80, p = 0.002). Despite statistical association between testing positive and several conditions, life table analysis shows that only a small minority of the study population were affected. † S. V Katikireddi and S Brophy are joint senior leads.
medRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory), May 11, 2022
World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, International Journal of Computer, Electrical, Automation, Control and Information Engineering, Nov 20, 2012
The paper investigates the feasibility of constructing a software multi-agent based monitoring an... more The paper investigates the feasibility of constructing a software multi-agent based monitoring and classification system and utilizing it to provide an automated and accurate classification of end users developing applications in the spreadsheet domain. The agents function autonomously to provide continuous and periodic monitoring of excels spreadsheet workbooks. Resulting in, the development of the MultiAgent classification System (MACS) that is in compliance with the specifications of the Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents (FIPA). However, different technologies have been brought together to build MACS. The strength of the system is the integration of the agent technology with the FIPA specifications together with other technologies that are Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) services, Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), and Oracle Data Mining (ODM). The Microsoft's .NET widows service based agents were utilized to develop the monitoring agents of MACS, the .NET WCF services together with SOA approach allowed the distribution and communication between agents over the WWW that is in order to satisfy the monitoring and classification of the multiple developer aspect. ODM was used to automate the classification phase of MACS.
BMC Infectious Diseases, Dec 12, 2022
Background: Vaccine hesitancy amongst pregnant women has been found to be a concern during past e... more Background: Vaccine hesitancy amongst pregnant women has been found to be a concern during past epidemics. This study aimed to (1) estimate COVID-19 vaccination rates among pregnant women in Wales and their association with age, ethnicity, and area of deprivation, using electronic health record (EHR) data linkage, and (2) explore pregnant women's views on receiving the COVID-19 vaccine during pregnancy using data from a survey recruiting via social media (Facebook, Twitter), through midwives, and posters in hospitals (Born-In-Wales Cohort). Methods: This was a mixed-methods study utilising routinely collected linked data from the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) Databank (Objective 1) and the Born-In-Wales Birth Cohort participants (Objective 2). Pregnant women were identified from 13th April 2021 to 31st December 2021. Survival analysis was utilised to examine and compare the length of time to vaccination uptake in pregnancy, and variation in uptake by; age, ethnic group, and deprivation area was examined using hazard ratios (HR) from Cox regression. Survey respondents were women who had a baby during the COVID-19 pandemic or were pregnant between 1st November 2021 and 24th March 2022 and participating in Born-In-Wales. Codebook thematic analysis was used to generate themes from an open-ended question on the survey. Results: Population-level data linkage (objective 1): Within the population cohort, 8203 (32.7%) received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine during pregnancy, 8572 (34.1%) remained unvaccinated throughout the followup period, and 8336 (33.2%) received the vaccine postpartum. Younger women (< 30 years) were less likely to have the vaccine, and those living in areas of high deprivation were also less likely to have the vaccine (HR = 0.88, 95% CI 0.82 to 0.95). Asian and Other ethnic groups were 1.12 and 1.18 times more likely to have the vaccine in pregnancy compared with White women (HR = 1.12, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.25) and (HR = 1.18, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.37) respectively. Survey responses (objective 2): 207 (69%) of participants stated that they would be happy to have the vaccine during pregnancy. The remaining 94 (31%) indicated they would not have the vaccine during pregnancy. Reasons for having the
BMJ Paediatrics Open, Jul 1, 2023
Objectives The WHO recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of life. This study ... more Objectives The WHO recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of life. This study aimed to examine the impact the pandemic had on breastfeeding uptake and duration, and whether intention to breastfeed is associated with longer duration of exclusive breastfeeding. Methods A cohort study using routinely collected, linked healthcare data from the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage databank. All women who gave birth in Wales between 2018 and 2021 recorded in the Maternal Indicators dataset were asked about intention to breastfeed. These data were linked with the National Community Child Health Births and Breastfeeding dataset to examine breastfeeding rates. Results Intention to breastfeed was associated with being 27.6 times more likely to continue to exclusively breastfeed for 6 months compared with those who did not intend to breastfeed (OR 27.6, 95% CI 24.9 to 30.7). Breastfeeding rates at 6 months were 16.6% prepandemic and 20.5% in 2020. When compared with a survey population, the initial intention to breastfeed/not breastfeed only changes for about 10% of women. Conclusion Women were more likely to exclusively breastfeed for 6 months during the pandemic compared with before or after the pandemic. Arguably, interventions which enable families to spend more time with their baby such as maternal and paternal leave may help improve breastfeeding duration. The biggest predictor of breastfeeding at 6 months was intention to breastfeed. Therefore, targeted interventions during pregnancy to encourage motivation to breastfeed could improve duration of breastfeeding. ⇒ Targeted interventions during pregnancy to encourage motivation to breastfeed could improve duration of breastfeeding.
medRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory), Dec 13, 2022
2017 International Conference on Green Energy Conversion Systems (GECS), Mar 1, 2017
The smart grid revolution is still rather a new comer into the current era, which explains the la... more The smart grid revolution is still rather a new comer into the current era, which explains the lack of software programs that support and simulate the smart grid principles. However, to address the challenges of the existing power grid, the new concept of Smart Grid (SG) has emerged. The SG combines electrical grids and communication infrastructures to form an intelligent electricity network working with all connected components to deliver sustainable electricity supplies. However, this paper discusses how the data travel from homes via smart meters to the utility through different communication mediums. The system comprises PLC as the mediator connecting smart meters to a central concentration point using RF signals. The readings are then retransmitted through free space and are received at the utility for further data analysis. Furthermore, the paper presents the implementation of a smart grid management system using MATLAB programming language, which demonstrates the transition of smart metering data from homes to the utility and illustrates the utility control over the user's consumption. Thus, The system serves as a guiding tool towards developing and testing a smarter grid.
Research Square (Research Square), Jun 1, 2022
Background: To determine the extent and nature of changes in infected patients' healthcare utiliz... more Background: To determine the extent and nature of changes in infected patients' healthcare utilization, we studied healthcare contact in the 1-4 weeks and 5-24 weeks following a COVID-19 diagnosis compared to propensity matched controls. Methods: Survival analysis was used for time to death and rst clinical outcomes including clinical terminology concepts for post-viral illness, fatigue, embolism, respiratory conditions, mental and developmental conditions, t note, or hospital attendance. Increased instantaneous risk for the occurrence of an outcome for positive individuals was quanti ed using hazard ratios (HR) from Cox Regression and absolute risk was quanti ed using relative risk (RR) from life table analysis. Results: Compared to matched individuals testing negative, surviving positive community-tested patients had a higher risk of post-viral illness (
Research Square (Research Square), Jan 18, 2023
Background Multimorbidity and pregnancy are two risk factors for more severe outcomes after a SAR... more Background Multimorbidity and pregnancy are two risk factors for more severe outcomes after a SARS-CoV-2 infection, thus vaccination uptake is important for pregnant women living with multimorbidity. This study aimed to examine the impact of multimorbidity, smoking status, and demographics (age, ethnic group, area of deprivation) on vaccine hesitancy among pregnant women in Wales using electronic health records (EHR) linkage. Methods This cohort study utilised routinely collected, individual-level, anonymised population-scale linked data within the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) Databank. Pregnant women were identi ed from 13 th April 2021 to 31 st December 2021. Survival analysis was utilised to examine and compare the length of time to vaccination uptake in pregnancy by multimorbidity and smoking status, as well as depression, diabetes, asthma, and cardiovascular conditions independently. Variation in uptake by; multimorbidity, smoking status, and demographics was examined jointly and separately for the independent conditions using hazard ratios (HR) from the Cox regression model. Results Within the population cohort, 8,203 (32.7%) received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine during pregnancy, with 8,572 (34.1%) remaining unvaccinated throughout the follow-up period, and 8,336 (33.2%) receiving the vaccine postpartum. Women aged 30 years or older were more likely to have the vaccine in pregnancy. Those who had depression were slightly but signi cantly more likely to have the vaccine compared to those without depression (HR = 1.08, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.14, p = 0.02). Women living with multimorbidity were 1.12 times more likely to have the vaccine compared to those living without multimorbidity (HR = 1.12, 95% CI 1.04 to 1.19, p = 0.001). Vaccine uptakes were signi cantly lower among both current smokers and former smokers compared to never smokers (HR = 0.87, 95% CI 0.81 to 0.94, p < 0.001 and HR = 0.92, 95% CI 0.85 to 0.98, p = 0.015 respectively). Uptake was also lower among those living in the most deprived areas compared to those living in the most a uent areas (HR = 0.89, 95% CI 0.83 to 0.96, p = 0.002). Conclusion Younger women, living without multimorbidity, current and former smokers, and those living in the more deprived areas are less likely to have the vaccine, thus, a targeted approach to vaccinations may be required for these groups. Women living with multimorbidity are slightly but signi cantly less likely to be hesitant about COVID-19 vaccination when pregnant.
World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, International Journal of Computer, Electrical, Automation, Control and Information Engineering, Apr 1, 2014
The paper discusses the design of a .NET Windows Service based agent system called MACS (Multi-Ag... more The paper discusses the design of a .NET Windows Service based agent system called MACS (Multi-Agent Classification System). MACS is a system aims to accurately classify spreadsheet developers competency over a network. It is designed to automatically and autonomously monitor spreadsheet users and gather their development activities based on the utilization of the software multi-agent technology (MAS). This is accomplished in such a way that makes management capable to efficiently allow for precise tailor training activities for future spreadsheet development. The monitoring agents of MACS are intended to be distributed over the WWW in order to satisfy the monitoring and classification of the multiple developer aspect. The Prometheus methodology is used for the design of the agents of MACS. Prometheus has been used to undertake this phase of the system design because it is developed specifically for specifying and designing agent-oriented systems. Additionally, Prometheus specifies also the communication needed between the agents in order to coordinate to achieve their delegated tasks.
International Technology Management Conference, 2015
The paper discusses the feasibility of constructing a SQL Server FILESTREAM based English Languag... more The paper discusses the feasibility of constructing a SQL Server FILESTREAM based English Language Learning System (ELLS). The paper focuses on the Implementation phase of the system. It explains the prospect of storing and managing unstructured data (e.g. Images, video, Word, Excel, PDF, MP3, etc) for educational purposes utilizing FILESTREAM technique provided by SQL Server 2012, and explains how to maintain efficient storage and access to BLOB data. However, Storing unstructured data posed many challenges, such as how to maintain transactional consistency between the structured and unstructured data, how to manage backup, restore, and storage performance. The paper seeks to utilize the combination of SQL Server 2012 features and the NTFS (New Technology File System) to improve the efficiency and performance of the ELLS system for children. The system also seeks to maintain the transactional consistency between the unstructured data and corresponding structured data. Furthermore, the system allows the user to customize some operations such as creating, updating and deleting photos, videos or audios in the database. The system supports some maintenance operations such as backup, restore, and consistency checking.
BMJ Open, Feb 1, 2023
et al. Maternal and child outcomes for pregnant women with pre-existing multiple long-term condit... more et al. Maternal and child outcomes for pregnant women with pre-existing multiple long-term conditions: protocol for an observational study in the UK. BMJ Open 2023;13:e068718.
BackgroundMultimorbidity and pregnancy are two risk factors for more severe outcomes after a SARS... more BackgroundMultimorbidity and pregnancy are two risk factors for more severe outcomes after a SARS-CoV-2 infection, thus vaccination uptake is important for pregnant women living with multimorbidity. This study aimed to examine the impact of multimorbidity, smoking status, and demographics (age, ethnic group, area of deprivation) on vaccine hesitancy among pregnant women in Wales using electronic health records (EHR) linkage.MethodsThis cohort study utilised routinely collected, individual-level, anonymised population-scale linked data within the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) Databank. Pregnant women were identified from 13thApril 2021 to 31stDecember 2021. Survival analysis was utilised to examine and compare the length of time to vaccination uptake in pregnancy by multimorbidity and smoking status, as well as depression, diabetes, asthma, and cardiovascular conditions independently. Variation in uptake by; multimorbidity, smoking status, and demographics was examined...
Research Square (Research Square), Jul 20, 2022
BMC Medicine
Background Heterogeneity in reported outcomes can limit the synthesis of research evidence. A cor... more Background Heterogeneity in reported outcomes can limit the synthesis of research evidence. A core outcome set informs what outcomes are important and should be measured as a minimum in all future studies. We report the development of a core outcome set applicable to observational and interventional studies of pregnant women with multimorbidity. Methods We developed the core outcome set in four stages: (i) a systematic literature search, (ii) three focus groups with UK stakeholders, (iii) two rounds of Delphi surveys with international stakeholders and (iv) two international virtual consensus meetings. Stakeholders included women with multimorbidity and experience of pregnancy in the last 5 years, or are planning a pregnancy, their partners, health or social care professionals and researchers. Study adverts were shared through stakeholder charities and organisations. Results Twenty-six studies were included in the systematic literature search (2017 to 2021) reporting 185 outcomes. T...
BMC Infectious Diseases
Background Vaccine hesitancy amongst pregnant women has been found to be a concern during past ep... more Background Vaccine hesitancy amongst pregnant women has been found to be a concern during past epidemics. This study aimed to (1) estimate COVID-19 vaccination rates among pregnant women in Wales and their association with age, ethnicity, and area of deprivation, using electronic health record (EHR) data linkage, and (2) explore pregnant women’s views on receiving the COVID-19 vaccine during pregnancy using data from a survey recruiting via social media (Facebook, Twitter), through midwives, and posters in hospitals (Born-In-Wales Cohort). Methods This was a mixed-methods study utilising routinely collected linked data from the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) Databank (Objective 1) and the Born-In-Wales Birth Cohort participants (Objective 2). Pregnant women were identified from 13th April 2021 to 31st December 2021. Survival analysis was utilised to examine and compare the length of time to vaccination uptake in pregnancy, and variation in uptake by; age, ethnic group,...
ABSTRACTIntroductionOne in five pregnant women have multiple long-term conditions in the United K... more ABSTRACTIntroductionOne in five pregnant women have multiple long-term conditions in the United Kingdom (UK). Studies have shown that maternal multiple long-term conditions are associated with adverse outcomes. This observational study aims to compare maternal and children’s outcome for pregnant women with multiple long-term to those without multiple long-term conditions.Methods and analysisPregnant women aged 15 to 49 years old with a conception date between 2000 and 2019 in the UK will be included. The data source will be routine health records from all four UK nations (Clinical Practice Research Datalink [CPRD, England], Secure Anonymised Information Linkage [SAIL, Wales], Scotland routine health records and Northern Ireland Maternity System [NIMATS]), and the Born in Bradford prospective birth cohort.The exposure of two or more pre-existing, long-term physical or mental health conditions will be defined from a list of health conditions predetermined by women and clinicians. The ...
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Papers by Mohamed Mhereeg