Dr. Matthew O'Connell
Matthew O’Connell is a Beeson-CARDI Research Fellow. His undergraduate degree was in Sport and Exercise Sciences from the University of Birmingham. Following this, he completed a Ph.D. at the University of Manchester, graduating in 2011. His thesis was titled ‘Frailty and Anabolic Hormones in Ageing Men’, and involved work on the observational European Male Aging Study (EMAS) and a clinical trial of testosterone therapy in frail men. Matthew then undertook a post-doctoral contract in Manchester looking at longitudinal changes in sex hormone levels in the EMAS. He joined TILDA as a Research Fellow in January 2012 and worked for 3 years on projects related to frailty and physiological function in older adults. These included innovative work characterising the blood pressure response to orthostasis (standing up) at the population level, novel statistical approaches to age-related deficit accumulation and the first All-Ireland study on frailty. His Ph.D. and post-doctoral work has been published in leading journals including the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society and Circulation.
In 2015, he was awarded a Fellowship by the Centre for Ageing Research and Development in Ireland (CARDI) under their Leadership in Ageing Research programme, sponsored by the American Federation For Ageing Research Paul Beeson Career Development Awards for the Island of Ireland. The project ‘Novel Physiological Determinants of Functional Decline across Ireland’ aims to identify new markers of physiological dysregulation from detailed data on peripheral and central blood pressure behaviour collected in TILDA, and assess their relationship to decline in key functional domains like muscle strength and gait speed.
Peer Reviewed Publications
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O’Connell MDL, Savva GM, Fan CW, Kenny RA. (2015) Orthostatic Hypotension, Orthostatic Intolerance and Frailty: The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing - TILDA. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics 60(3):507-13
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Theou O, O’Connell MD, King-Kallimanis BL, O’Halloran AM, Rockwood K, Kenny RA (2015). Measuring frailty using self-report and test-based health measures. Age and Ageing 44(3):471-7
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Romero-Ortuno R, O'Connell MD, Finucane C, Fan CW, Kenny RA. (In Press). Higher orthostatic heart rate predicts mortality: The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA). Ageing Clinical and Experimental Research.
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Finucane C*, O’Connell MDL*, Fan CW, Savva GM, Soraghan C, Nolan H, Cronin H, Kenny R. (2014). Age Related Normative Changes in Phasic Orthostatic Blood Pressure in a Large Population Study: Findings from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA). Circulation. 130 1780-1789
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O'Connell MD, Wu FC. (2014). Androgen effects on skeletal muscle: implications for the development and management of frailty. Asian Journal of Andrology, 16(2):203-12.
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Sheehan KJ, Connell MD, Cunningham C, Crosby L, Kenny RA. (2013).The relationship between increased body mass index and frailty on falls in community dwelling older adults. BMC Geriatrics, 13:132.
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Ravindrarajah R, Lee DM, Pye SR, Gielen E, Boonen S, Vanderschueren D, Pendleton N, Finn JD, Tajar A, O'Connell MD, Rockwood K, Bartfai G, Casanueva FF, Forti G, Giwercman A, Han TS, Huhtaniemi IT, Kula K, Lean ME, Punab M, Wu FC, O'Neill TW; European Male Aging Study Group. (2012). The ability of three different models of frailty to predict all-cause mortality: results from the European Male Aging Study (EMAS). Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 57(3):360-8.
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Romero-Ortuno R, O’Connell MDL, Finucane C, Soraghan C, Fan CW, Kenny RA. (2013) Insights into the clinical management of supine hypertension-orthostatic hypotension (SH-OH): the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA). BMC Geriatrics July 15; 13:73
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O'Connell MDL, Tajar A, O'Neill TW, Roberts SA, Silman AJ, Lee DM, Pye SR Finn JD, Bartfai G, Boonen S, Casanueva FF, Forti G, Giwercman A, Han TS, Huhtaniemi IT, Kula K, Lean MEJ, Pendleton N, Punab M, Vanderschueren D, Wu FCW and the EMAS group. (2013). Frailty is associated with impaired quality of life and falls in middle aged and older European men. Journal of Frailty and Aging,2(2):77-83.
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Lee DM, Tajar A, Ravindrarajah R, Pye SR, O'Connor DB, Corona G, O’Connell MDL, Gielen E, Boonen S, Vanderschueren D, Pendleton N, Finn JD, Bartfai G, Casanueva FF, Forti G, Giwercman A, Han TS, Huhtaniemi IT, Kula K, Lean ME, Punab M, Wu FC, O'Neill TW; European Male Aging Study Group. (2013). Frailty and sexual health in older European men. Journal of Gerontology: Series A, Biological Sciences and medical sciences, 68(7):837-44.
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Lee DM, Tajar A, Pye SR, O’Connell MDL, Ravindrarajah R, Gielen E, Boonen S, Vanderschueren D, Pendleton N, Finn JD, Bartfai G, Casanueva FF, Forti G, Giwercman A, Han TS, Huhtaniemi IT, Kula K, Lean ME, Punab M, Wu FC, O'Neill TW. (2013). The association of frailty with serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D and parathyroid hormone levels in older European men. Age and Ageing.
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Gielen E1, Verschueren S, O'Neill TW, Pye SR,O’Connell MDL, Lee DM, Ravindrarajah R, Claessens F, Laurent M, Milisen K, Tournoy J, Dejaeger M, Wu FC, Vanderschueren D, Boonen S. (2013). Musculoskeletal frailty: a geriatric syndrome at the core of fracture occurrence in older age. Calcified Tissue International, 42(3):352-9.
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O’Connell MDL, Ravindrarajah R, Tajar A, Wu FC. (2011). Low testosterone in ageing men: a modifiable risk factor for frailty? Trends in Endocrinology & Metaboloism, 22(12):491-8.
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O’Connell MDL, Tajar A, Roberts SA, Wu FC. (2011). Do androgens play any role in the physical frailty of ageing men? International Journal of Andrology, 34(3):195-211.
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Tajar A, O’Connell MDL, Mitnitski AB, O'Neill TW, Searle SD, Huhtaniemi IT, Finn JD, Bartfai G, Boonen S, Casanueva FF, Forti G, Giwercman A, Han TS, Kula K, Labrie F, Lean ME, Pendleton N, Punab M, Silman AJ, Vanderschueren D, Rockwood K, Wu FC; European Male Aging Study Group. (2011). Frailty in relation to variations in hormone levels of the hypothalamic-pituitary-testicular axis in older men: results from the European male aging study. Journal of the Americans Geriatric Society, 59(5):814-21.
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O’Connell MDL, Roberts SA, Srinivas-Shankar U, Tajar A, Connolly MJ, Adams JE, Oldham JA, Wu FC. (2011). Do the effects of testosterone on muscle strength, physical function, body composition, and quality of life persist six months after treatment in intermediate-frail and frail elderly men? The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 96(2):454-8.
- Srinivas-Shankar U, Roberts SA, Connolly MJ, O’Connell MDL, Adams JE, Oldham JA, Wu FC. (2010). Effects of testosterone on muscle strength, physical function, body composition, and quality of life in intermediate-frail and frail elderly men: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 95(2):639-50.
Other Publications
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Scarlett S, King Kallimanis BL, Young I, Kenny RA, O’Connell MDL. (2014) Frailty and Disability in Ireland. Report on main findings from datamining grant. Available from www.cardi.ie
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Leahy S, Donoghue O, O'Connell M, O'Hare C, Nolan H. (2014) Obesity and Health Outcomes in Older Irish Adults, in The Over 50s in Changing Ireland: Economic Circumstances, Health and Wellbeing. First report on findings from wave 2 of the Irish Longitudinal study on Ageing
Research Grants
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O’Connell MDL: Novel Physiological Determinants of Functional Decline Across Ireland. €229,246 - Ageing Research Leadership Fellowship from the Centre for Ageing Research and Development in Ireland sponsored by the American Federation for Ageing Research Beeson Awards 2015
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O’Connell MDL, King-Kallimanis BL, Kenny RA: Frailty and Disability in Ireland. €15,214 - from the Centre for Ageing Research and Development in Ireland's second data-mining programme 2013