Improvement in primary school adherence to the NSW Healthy School Canteen Strategy in 2007 and 2010.

Issue Addressed: Since 2005, a government-endorsed strategy guiding food sold in New South Wales school canteens has been in place. This study describes the changes in school canteen food between 2007 and 2010 and characterises schools most likely to adhere to strategy guidelines.

Methods: Menus obtained from a cohort of primary and central schools in the Hunter New England region of New South Wales were audited using a traffic light system of classification.

Factors influencing adherence in long-term use of statins.

Purpose: To assess the factors influencing adherence in long-term medication use as exemplified by statins.

Methods: Data from an in-depth survey of Australians aged 45 years and over were linked to national prescription reimbursement data to assess medication possession ratio (MPR) for statins for the middle two years of a four-year period of statin possession. Poisson regression was used to calculate the relative risk (RR) for adherence (MPR ≥ 80%) for patient characteristics and factors related to access to and need for health care services.