Dr Caroline Kristunas BSc, MSci, PhD

Dr Caroline Kristunas

School of Dentistry
Biomedical Statistician

Caroline Kristunas is a Biomedical Statistician in the School of Dentistry and a member of the Biostatistics, Evidence Synthesis and Test Evaluation (BESaTE) research group in the Institute of Applied Health Research. Caroline’s main research interests are in cluster randomised trials, particularly those of a stepped-wedge or multiple-period crossover design.

Qualifications

PhD in Health Sciences, University of Leicester, 2020

MSci in Medical Statistics, University of Leicester, 2015

BSc in Mathematics, University of Birmingham, 2014

Biography

Caroline was awarded an NIHR Research Methods Fellowship in 2014, during which she completed an MSci in Medical Statistics at the University of Leicester. She was awarded a Distinction and the Royal Statistical Society’s Prize for Overall High Marks. Caroline spent the remaining time on the fellowship as a Research Assistant at the Leicester Diabetes Centre, conducting methodological work in the area of stepped-wedge cluster randomised trials and acting as trial statistician for several cluster randomised trials of education intervention for type 2 diabetes.

In 2016, Caroline was awarded an NIHR Doctoral Research Fellowship to appraise the use of feasibility studies to inform stepped-wedge cluster randomised trials and identify the issues affecting the feasibility of these studies. Under the fellowship, Caroline was registered as a full-time PhD student at the University of Leicester and, alongside the fellowship, Caroline also worked with the Diabetes Research Centre as a statistician on the Embedding cluster randomised trial. Caroline was awarded her PhD in December 2020.

Caroline moved to the University of Birmingham in 2020, where she lends her statistical expertise to various exciting projects within the School of Dentistry and collaborates with colleagues in the Institute of Applied Health Research. Caroline continues to explore her methodological interests in the area of cluster randomised trials.

Publications

Recent publications

Article

the ROCkeTS collaborators, Kwong, FL, Kristunas, C, Davenport, C, Aggarwal, R, Deeks, J, Mallett, S, Kehoe, S, Timmerman, D, Bourne, T, Stobart, H, Neal, R, Menon, U, Gentry‐Maharaj, A, Sturdy, L, Ottridge, R & Sundar, S 2024, 'Investigating harms of testing for ovarian cancer – psychological outcomes and cancer conversion rates in women with symptoms of ovarian cancer: A cohort study embedded in the multicentre ROCkeTS prospective diagnostic study', BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, pp. 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-0528.17813

Kwong, FLA, Kristunas, C, Davenport, C, Deeks, J, Mallett, S, Agarwal, R, Kehoe, S, Timmerman, D, Bourne, T, Stobart, H, Neal, R, Menon, U, Gentry‐Maharaj, A, Brenton, J, Rosenfeld, N, Sturdy, L, Ottridge, R, Sundar, S & the ROCkeTS collaborators 2024, 'Symptom-triggered testing improves the detection of early-stage and low-volume resectable advanced-stage high grade serous ovarian cancer', International Journal of Gynecological Cancer. https://doi.org/10.1136/ijgc-2024-005371

Li, X, Kristunas, C, Landini, G, Kroeger, A & Dietrich, T 2023, 'A novel method for the remote measurement of trismus in clinical trials using mobile phone cameras', Clinical Oral Investigations, vol. 27, no. 12, pp. 7231-7236. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00784-023-05272-z

Sharma, P, Kristunas, C, Chapple, I & Dietrich, T 2023, 'Periodontal health and patient reported outcomes: A longitudinal analysis of data from non-specialist practice settings', Journal of Clinical Periodontology, vol. 50, no. 5, 13776, pp. 582-590. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpe.13776

Kristunas, C, Grayling, M, Gray, LJ & Hemming, K 2022, 'Mind the gap: covariate constrained randomisation can protect against substantial power loss in parallel cluster randomised trials', BMC Medical Research Methodology, vol. 22, no. 1, 111. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12874-022-01588-8

Shields, A, Faustini, S, Kristunas, C, Cook, A, Backhouse, C, Dunbar, L, Ebanks, D, Emmanuel, B, Crouch, E, Kroeger, A, Hirschfeld, J, Sharma, P, Jaffery, R, Nowak, S, Gee, S, Drayson, M, Richter, A, Dietrich, T & Chapple, I 2021, 'COVID-19: Seroprevalence and vaccine responses in UK dental care professionals', Journal of Dental Research, vol. 100, no. 11, pp. 1220-1227. https://doi.org/10.1177/00220345211020270

Davies, M, Kristunas, CA, Huddlestone, L, Alshreef, A, Bodicoat, D, Dixon, S, Eborall, H, Glab, A, Hudson, N, Khunti, K, Martin, G, Northern, A, Patterson, M, Pritchard, R, Schreder, S, Stribling, B, Turner, J & Gray, LJ 2020, 'Increasing uptake of structured self-management education programmes for type 2 diabetes in a primary care setting: a feasibility study', Pilot and Feasibility Studies, vol. 6, no. 1, 71. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40814-020-00606-0

Tyrer, F, Dunkley, AJ, Singh, J, Kristunas, C, Khunti, K, Bhaumik, S, Davies, MJ, Yates, TE & Gray, LJ 2019, 'Multimorbidity and lifestyle factors among adults with intellectual disabilities: a cross-sectional analysis of a UK cohort', Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, vol. 63, no. 3, pp. 255-265. https://doi.org/10.1111/jir.12571

Kristunas, CA, Hemming, K, Eborall, H, Eldridge, S & Gray, LJ 2019, 'The current use of feasibility studies in the assessment of feasibility for stepped-wedge cluster randomised trials: a systematic review', BMC Medical Research Methodology, vol. 19, no. 1. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12874-019-0658-3

Hemming, K, Taljaard, M, McKenzie, JE, Hooper, R, Copas, A, Thompson, JA, Dixon-Woods, M, Aldcroft, A, Doussau, A, Grayling, M, Kristunas, C, Goldstein, CE, Campbell, MK, Girling, A, Eldridge, S, Campbell, MJ, Lilford, R, Weijer, C, Forbes, A & Grimshaw, JM 2018, 'Reporting of The CONSORT extension for Stepped-Wedge Cluster Randomised Trials: Extension of the CONSORT 2010 statement with explanation and elaboration', BMJ.

Kristunas, CA, Smith, KL & Gray, LJ 2017, 'An imbalance in cluster sizes does not lead to notable loss of power in cross-sectional, stepped-wedge cluster randomised trials with a continuous outcome', Trials, vol. 18, no. 1. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-017-1832-8

Kristunas, CA, Hemming, K, Eborall, HC & Gray, LJ 2017, 'The use of feasibility studies for stepped-wedge cluster randomised trials: protocol for a review of impact and scope', BMJ open, vol. 7, no. 7, pp. e017290. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2017-017290

Kristunas, C, Morris, T & Gray, L 2017, 'Unequal cluster sizes in stepped-wedge cluster randomised trials: a systematic review', BMJ open, vol. 7, no. 11, pp. e017151. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2017-017151

Review article

Deeks, J, Dinnes, J, Takwoingi, Y, Davenport, C, Spijker, R, Taylor-Phillips, S, Adriano, A, Beese, S, Dretzke, J, Ferrante di Ruffano, L, Harris, I, Price, M, Dittrich, S, Emperador, D, Hooft, L, Leeflang, MMG, Van De Bruel, A, McInnes, MDF, Stuyf, T, Domen, J, Horn, S, Yang, B, Langendam, M, Ochodo, E, Guleid, F, Holtman, G, Verbakel, J, Stegeman, I, Salameh , JP, McGrath , TA, van der Pol , CB, Frank , RA, Prager , R, Hare , SS, Dennie , C, Jenniskens, K, Korevaar , DA, Cohen , JF, van de Wijgert, J, Damen , JAAG, Agarwal, R, Baldwin, S, Berhane, S, Herd, C, Kristunas, C, Quinn, L & Scholefield, B 2020, 'Antibody tests for identification of current and past infection with SARS-CoV-2', Cochrane Library, vol. 2020, no. 6, CD013652. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD013652

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