Contact Details
- Position
- PhD Student
- Qualifications
- BSc(Hons) (Neuroscience) (First Class)
- Research summary
- Patient and medication related factors that influence long-term functional status post-stroke
- Teaching
- Human Body Systems 1 (HUBS191) - Lab Demonstrator
- Human Body Systems 2 (HUBS192) - Lab Demonstrator
- Memberships
- Australasian Neuroscience Society (ANS)
- Otago Neuroscience Students' Association (ONSA) - President
- Emerging Neuroscientists' Group (ENG)
- Brain Health Research Centre (BHRC)
- Clinical
- Neuromodulation for improving cognition
Research
In New Zealand, stroke is the second leading cause of death and the main cause of adult disability. Approximately 70% of those survivors are left with disabilities that affect their quality of life. Māori and Pacific people are overrepresented in this patient group because they experience strokes at a younger age and are three times less likely to be living independently after a stroke than New Zealand Europeans.
The possibility of improving post-stroke repair using medicines is therefore an attractive strategy and increasing interest has been directed to the potential role that drugs can play in enhancing recovery. However, the ability of these pharmacological agents to influence stroke recovery in patients is not well understood and requires further investigation.
Understanding how patient and medication-related factors contribute to poorer functional status in specific minority communities may provide an opportunity to close the gap to improve long-term outcomes through better prescribing. Understanding the impact of these treatments on stroke recovery will become increasingly relevant to prescribing pharmacists in NZ who provide care for stroke patients as our population continues to age. Clear prescribing guidelines for stroke may enable clinicians and pharmacist to indirectly reduce the number of patients who live with severe stroke-related deficits and the long-term healthcare costs associated with supporting these patients.
The aim of my project is therefore to investigate the patient and medication related factors that influence long term functional status after stroke by obtaining linked data from National Minimum Dataset (NMDS), Pharmaceutical Collection (PC), InterRAI and the NZ thrombolysis register for all patients ever admitted to hospital with an ischaemic stroke in NZ.
Publications
Nair, S., Tuckey, E. M., Gupta, D., Liu, R., Smith, A. J., & McGregor, A. L. (2026). Timing of antidepressant use influences long term functional status in New Zealand stroke patients: A retrospective population level study. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 56(2), e70008. doi: 10.1002/snz2.70008 Journal - Research Article
Nair, S., Smith, A., & McGregor, A. (2024, September). Stroke recovery is most challenging for Pacific Peoples: Is pattern of prescribing medications to blame? Verbal presentation at the Pacific Islands Health Research Symposium, Nadi, Fiji. Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Nair, S., Smith, A., & McGregor, A. L. (2023, August). Medication and patient related factors contributing to poorer outcomes in Pacific peoples after stroke. Verbal presentation at the Brain Health Research Centre (BHRC) Annual Conference, Dunedin, New Zealand. Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Nair, S., Smith, A., & McGregor, A. (2023). Pacific stroke patients receive different medication prescriptions than NZ Europeans and have poorer functional status post-stroke. In R. Richards, I. Walter, A. Finigan, T. Ruhe, L. Avia, M. Schaaf & E. Fehoko (Eds.), Proceedings of the Pacific Postgraduate Symposium: Pacific Voices XX. (pp. 27). Dunedin, New Zealand: Pacific Islands Centre, University of Otago. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10523/16433 Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Nair, S., Yin, E., Smith, A., & McGregor, A. (2022, November). Exposure to antipsychotic medication is detrimental to the functional status of NZ stroke patients. Verbal presentation at the School of Pharmacy Research Day, Dunedin, New Zealand. Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs