Background: Blunt traumatic abdominal wall hernias (TAWHs) are rare but require a variety of operative techniques to repair including bone anchor fixation (BAF) when tissue tears off bony structures. This study aimed to provide a descriptive analysis of BAF technique for blunt TAWH repair. Bone anchor fixation and no BAF repairs were compared, hypothesizing increased hernia recurrence with BAF repair.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Blunt traumatic abdominal wall hernias (TAWH) occur in <1 % of trauma patients. Optimal repair techniques, such as mesh reinforcement, have not been studied in detail. We hypothesize that mesh use will be associated with increased surgical site infections (SSI) and not improve hernia recurrence.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis paper reflects on the influences and outcomes of He Kāinga Oranga/Housing and Health Research Programme over 25 years, and their impact on housing and health policy in Aotearoa and internationally. Working in partnership particularly with Māori and Pasifika communities, we have conducted randomised control trials which have shown the health and broad co-benefits of retrofitted insulation, heating and remediation of home hazards, which have underpinned government policy in the Warm Up NZ-Heat Smart programme and the Healthy Homes Standards for rental housing. These trials have been included as evidence in the WHO Housing and Health Guidelines and led to our designation as a WHO Collaborating Centre on Housing and Wellbeing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWith the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, New Zealand's official statistical agency (Stats NZ) moved quickly to supplement the quarterly Household Labour Force Survey with wellbeing measures from the General Social Survey. The first supplement (June 2020) began toward the end of a restrictive national lockdown. Subsequent quarterly surveys continued through a second lockdown for the Auckland region, enabling tests of regional lockdown impacts.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOne of the main challenges facing non-metropolitan regions is the attraction and retention of highly-educated young people. A loss of the brightest can lead to reduced business creation, innovation, growth and community well-being in such regions. We use rich longitudinal microdata from New Zealand to analyse the determinants and geography of the choice of destination of recent university and polytechnic graduates 2 years and 4 years after graduation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe analyse the impact of land loss, through colonisation, on contemporary cultural wellbeing and health outcomes of Māori, the Indigenous population of Aotearoa New Zealand. In 1840, Māori legally owned all land in the country; by 2017, Māori owned just 5% of land. Ties to the land (whenua) have been identified as being critical to spirituality (wairua) and health (hauora).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe model push factors that determine the domestic migration decisions for couples, with emphasis on dual-earner different-sex couples. Unlike many prior studies that concentrate on labour market determinants of migration, we place the subjective well-being (SWB) reported by each partner at centre stage. We test whether migration determinants differ depending on whether the female is the main breadwinner in a dual-earner couple.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Management guidelines for pediatric blunt spleen injuries (BSI) include adolescent patients but few studies have compared current management of adolescents with respect to other age groups by center type.
Methods: A retrospective review of 2017-2018 National Trauma Quality Improvement (TQIP) data of children (6-12), adolescents (13-17) and young adults (18-24) with BSI presenting to an adult, pediatric only, or adult/pediatric trauma center, comparing the rate of splenic intervention for adolescents by trauma center was performed.
Results: Children had lower odds of spleen intervention than adolescents at both adult (OR 0.
We examine determinants of subjective wellbeing (SWB) for mothers of dependent children in material hardship, using a modification of the New Zealand Treasury's Living Standards Framework (LSF) and data from the General Social Survey. We convert the LSF-an indicator dashboard-into a tool for prioritising social policies by placing SWB at the head of a hierarchy of wellbeing domains. Several determinants of these mothers' SWB conform to standard findings; however, two important differences stand out.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Asthma is the most common chronic disease in children, many of whom are managed solely with a short-acting β-agonist (SABA). In adults, the evidence that budesonide-formoterol as sole reliever therapy markedly reduces the risk of severe exacerbations compared with SABA alone has contributed to the Global Initiative for Asthma recommending against SABA monotherapy in this population. The current lack of evidence in children means it is unknown whether these findings are also relevant to this demographic.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Blunt traumatic abdominal wall hernias (TAWH) occur in approximately 15,000 patients per year. Limited data are available to guide the timing of surgical intervention or the feasibility of nonoperative management.
Methods: A retrospective study of patients presenting with blunt TAWH from January 2012 through December 2018 was conducted.
With the increasing prevalence of obesity, there has been a parallel increase in the incidence of rectal cancer. The association of body mass index (BMI) and end-colostomy creation versus primary anastomosis in patients undergoing proctectomy for rectal cancer has not been described. This is a retrospective study of patients with rectal cancer from 2012 to 2018 using data from the National Surgical Quality Improvement Project.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The Surgical Council on Resident Education's (SCORE) structured educational curriculum for general surgery residents uses a 2-year repeating cycle of modules and quizzes called "This Week in SCORE" (TWIS) to organize and sequence the curricular content on the SCORE portal. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of using the SCORE content and TWIS curriculum on American Board of Surgery In-Training Examination (ABSITE) performance. To date, no multi-institutional studies have examined this effect.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAm J Health Behav
July 2019
In this paper we report the evaluation of a proprietary recall system for promoting compliance with recommended follow-up in high-risk patients. We conducted a retrospective chart review for patients of an active private colon and rectal surgery practice having colonoscopy in 2006. Patients selected were <80 years of age and assessed to be high-risk by findings at exam or personal/family history of colorectal neoplasm with a recommendation for follow-up surveillance colonoscopy ranging from months to 5 years.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: We carried out an evaluation of a large-scale New Zealand retrofit programme using administrative data that provided the statistical power to assess the effect of insulation and/or heating retrofits on cardiovascular and respiratory-related mortality in people aged 65 and over with prior respiratory or circulatory hospitalisations.
Design: Quasi-experimental cohort study based on administrative data.
Setting: New Zealand.