An assessment of population treated pain and gout burden using wastewater-based epidemiology

Globally, pain is a significant public health priority. Pain and pain associated disorders are major causes of disability and disease burden worldwide. Diseases and pain are interconnected, with many diseases causing pain as an indirect effect. An example is gout which is a common form of arthritis which produces severe pain. The global gout burden is extensive, and it is growing in many parts of world. This project aimed to provide the first assessment of the treated pain and gout burden of a population using wastewater-based epidemiology.

Fahad Ahmed graduated from Jahangirnagar University in Bangladesh with a Bachelor of Science (BSc, Hons) in Environmental Sciences in 2014 and a Master's degree (MSc) in Environmental Sciences in 2016. He started as a PhD student at QAEHS in October 2018. He's interested in wastewater-based epidemiology, with a particular focus on improving our analytical chemistry skills to quantify population consumption of chemicals based on wastewater measurements. Fahad is particularly interested in using a wastewater-based epidemiology to measure painkiller drug biomarkers and other health biomarkers.

Please note this is a PhD student thesis milestone review.