Professor Kate Tilling

Summary

My main research interests are in the development and application of statistical methods to causal problems in epidemiology/health services research. Two particular areas are methods for analysis of longitudinal data, and methods for minimising bias due to missing data.

Teaching

I teach 1st and 4th year medical students, and also contribute to the Short Course Programme.

Expertise

My main areas of expertise are in methods for analysing exposures and outcomes across the life course, and in methods for dealing with missing data. I have a mathematical background, an MSc in Applied Statistics and a PhD in epidemiology, together with more than 15 years experience working in academic public health and epidemiology. I enjoy interpreting and explaining results from more complex statistical methods to other researchers and members of the public and using all forms of the media to effectively promote public health messages.

Memberships

Organisations

School of Social and Community Medicine

Other sites

• Medical-school
• Populationhealth

Centres, collaborations and units

• Collaboration and Innovation for Difficult or Complex Randomised Controlled Trials (ConDuCT)
• Development and Evaluation of Complex Interventions for Public Health Improvement (DECIPHer)
• Bristol Randomised Trials Collaboration
• Centre for Public Health
• MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit

Research groups

• Medical Statistics in the School of Social and Community Medicine

Selected publications

• Millard, LAC, Davies, NM, Timpson, NJ, Tilling, KM, Flach, PA & Smith, GD, 2015, ‘MR-PheWAS: Hypothesis prioritization among potential causal effects of body mass index on many outcomes, using Mendelian randomization’. Scientific Reports, vol 5.
• Smith, ADAC, Tilling, KM, Nelson, SM & Lawlor, DA, 2015, ‘Live-birth rate associated with repeat in vitro fertilization treatment cycles’. Journal of the American Medical Association, vol 314., pp. 2654-2662
• Palace, J, Duddy, M, Bregenzer, T, Lawton, M, Zhu, F, Boggild, M, Piske, B, Robertson, NP, Oger, J, Tremlett, H, Tilling, K, Ben-Shlomo, Y & Dobson, C, 2015, ‘Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of interferon beta and glatiramer acetate in the UK Multiple Sclerosis Risk Sharing Scheme at 6 years: a clinical cohort study with natural history comparator’. Lancet Neurology.
• Macdonald-Wallis, C, Silverwood, RJ, De Stavola, BL, Inskip, H, Cooper, C, Godfrey, KM, Crozier, SR, Fraser, A, Nelson, SM, Lawlor, D & Tilling, K, 2015, ‘Antenatal blood pressure for prediction of pre-eclampsia, preterm birth, and small for gestational age babies: development and validation in two general population cohorts’. BMJ, vol 351., pp. 1-11

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Recent publications

• Bray, IC, Noble, SM, Robinson, RD, Molloy, LC & Tilling, KM, 2017, ‘Mode of delivery affected questionnaire response rates in a birth cohort study’. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, vol 81., pp. 64-71
• Grzeda, MT, Heron, J, Tilling, K, Wright, A & Joinson, C, 2017, ‘Examining the effectiveness of parental strategies to overcome bedwetting: an observational cohort study’. BMJ Open.
• Harding, K, Tilling, K, MacIver, C, Willis, M, Joseph, F, Ingram, G, Hirst, C, Wardle, M, Pickersgill, T, Ben-Shlomo, Y & Robertson, N, 2017, ‘Seasonal variation in multiple sclerosis relapse’. Journal of Neurology, vol 264., pp. 1059-1067
• Simpkin, A, Howe, L, Tilling, K, Gaunt, T, Lyttleton, O, McArdle, W, Ring, S, Horvath, S, Smith, GD & Relton, C, 2017, ‘The epigenetic clock and physical development during childhood and adolescence: longitudinal analysis from a UK birth cohort’. International Journal of Epidemiology.
• Simpson, J, Smith, ADAC, Fraser, A, Sattar, N, Lindsay, RS, Ring, SM, Tilling, K, Smith, GD, Lawlor, DA & Nelson, SM, 2017, ‘Programming of Adiposity in Childhood and Adolescence: Associations With Birth Weight and Cord Blood Adipokines’. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, vol 102., pp. 499-506
• Norris, T, Collin, S, Tilling, K, Nuevo, R, Stansfeld, S, Sterne, J, Heron, J & Crawley, E, 2017, ‘Natural course of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis in adolescents’. Archives of Disease in Childhood.

View complete publications list in the University of Bristol publications system

Projects

• Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC)
• Epigenetics and Social Science Network
• Epigenetics: Environment, Embodiment and Equality (E4 project)
• Prostate Testing for Cancer and Treatment (ProtecT)
• The WISE project: Wellbeing in Secondary Education