• Dizziness in older patients;
• Continuity of care;
• Prediction rules;
• And - as a practising GP - translating theory into practice.

Dizziness

Dr. Maarsingh is a GP, researcher and epidemiologist at the Department of General Practice, Amsterdam UMC, location VUmc. His main focus of research is dizziness in older patients. In 2010, he wrote his thesis Dizziness in older patients in general practice: a diagnostic challenge. In 2011, he received an individual grant from the Stichting Beroepsopleiding Huisartsen (SBOH) for 4 years and continued his research on dizziness as a postdoctoral researcher. In 2013, he obtained a ZonMw/SBOH grant for his research project Improving the diagnosis of dizzy elderly: a three-arm validation and intervention study in general practice. This research project resulted in 7 international peer-reviewed publications. In 2015, he obtained a ZonMw/SBOH grant for his research project 'Internet-based vestibular rehabilitation for older dizzy adults: does it work? A single blind, three arm, randomised controlled trial in general practice. Until present, this research project resulted in 10 international peer-reviewed publications.

In 2015, continuity of care became another research focus. Probably initiated by his father and grandfather - who were both fulltime GPs in a small village - dr. Maarsingh investigated the associaton between continuity of care in general practice and survival in older patients, using the data of the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam. The results of this study (i.e. low continuity of care in general practice is associated with a higher risk of mortality) inspired him to write a grant proposal aiming to improve continuity of care in general care. In 2018, he obtained a ZonMw/SBOH grant for his research project Optimising personal continuity for older patients in general practice: a stepped wedge cluster randomised controlled trial. This research project started March 2019. September 2020, he initiated another research project on continuity of care, focusing on personal continuity and drug prescribing for older patients in general practice.

Since a few years, depression has become another research focus. In 2018, dr. Maarsingh constructed and validated a prediction rule for an unfavorable course of late-life depression. Since 2019, he is involved in the OPERA study, a double-blind placebo-controlled multicenter trial on discontinuation of antidepressants.