Variation in health service use by veterans with an accepted disability of post-traumatic stress disorder who had a service record post 1975: a cluster analysis.

Background: The use of health services is likely to vary among veterans with an accepted disability of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), however, the extent of variation is not known. We aimed to determine the extent and type of health services used by veterans with an accepted disability of PTSD.

Methods: The cohort included veterans who served post 1975, were eligible for all Australian Government Department of Veterans' Affairs funded health services, had PTSD as an accepted disability prior to July 2015 and were alive at the 30 June 2016.

Impact of a patient-specific national programme aimed at increasing the use of emollient moisturisers to reduce the risk of skin tears: a longitudinal cohort study.

Objectives: To evaluate the impact of a patient-specific national programme targeting older Australians and health professionals that aimed to increase use of emollient moisturisers to reduce to the risk of skin tears.

Design: A prospective cohort intervention.

Participants: The intervention targeted 52 778 Australian Government's Department of Veterans' Affairs patients aged over 64 years who had risk factors for wound development, and their general practitioners (GPs) (n=14 178).

Reducing medicine-induced deterioration and adverse reactions (ReMInDAR) trial: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial in residential aged-care facilities assessing frailty as the primary outcome.

Introduction: Many medicines have adverse effects which are difficult to detect and frequently go unrecognised. Pharmacist monitoring of changes in signs and symptoms of these adverse effects, which we describe as medicine-induced deterioration, may reduce the risk of developing frailty. The aim of this trial is to determine the effectiveness of a 12-month pharmacist service compared with usual care in reducing medicine-induced deterioration, frailty and adverse reactions in older people living in aged-care facilities in Australia.

Analysis of anticholinergic and sedative medicine effects on physical function, cognitive function, appetite and frailty: a cross-sectional study in Australia.

Objective: To test the association between use of medicines with anticholinergic or sedative properties and physical function, cognitive function, appetite and frailty.

Design, Setting And Participants: This cross-sectional study analysed baseline data collected as part of the Australian Longitudinal Study of Ageing, a population-based cohort of 2087 participants aged 65 years or over living in South Australia.

Main Outcome Measures: Physical function was measured at baseline using measures including hand grip strength, walking speed, chair stands, activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL).

Sequence symmetry analysis graphic adjustment for prescribing trends.

Background: Sequence symmetry analysis (SSA) is a signal detection method that can be used to assist with adverse drug event detection. It provides both a risk estimate and a data visualisation. Published methods provide results in the form of an adjusted sequence ratio, which adjusts for underlying market trends of medicine use, however no method for adjusting the visualisation is available.

Comparative effectiveness and safety of low-strength and high-strength direct oral anticoagulants compared with warfarin: a sequential cohort study.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare effectiveness and safety of low-strength and high-strength direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) with warfarin in the Australian Veteran population.

Design: Sequential cohort study using inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) and propensity score matching. Initiators of high-strength (apixaban 5 mg, dabigatran 150 mg, rivaroxaban 20 mg) and low-strength DOACS (apixaban 2.

Persistence with opioids post discharge from hospitalisation for surgery in Australian adults: a retrospective cohort study.

Objective: To determine time to opioid cessation post discharge from hospital in persons who had been admitted to hospital for a surgical procedure and were previously naïve to opioids.

Design, Setting And Participants: Retrospective cohort study using administrative health claims database from the Australian Government Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA). DVA gold card holders aged between 18 and 100 years who were admitted to hospital for a surgical admission between 1 January 2014 and 30 December 2015 and naïve to opioid therapy prior to admission were included in the study.

The validity of the Rx-Risk Comorbidity Index using medicines mapped to the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) Classification System.

Objectives: To provide a map of Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) Classification System codes to individual Rx-Risk comorbidities and to validate the Rx-Risk Comorbidity Index.

Design: The 46 comorbidities in the Rx-Risk Index were mapped to dispensing's indicative of each condition using ATC codes. Prescription dispensing claims in 2014 were used to calculate the Rx-Risk.

Inflated medicine prices in Vietnam: a qualitative study.

One third of the world's population lacks regular access to essential medicines partly because of the high cost of medicines. In Vietnam, the cost to patients of medicines was 47 times the international reference price for originator brands and 11 times the price for generic equivalents in the public sector. In this article, we report the results of a qualitative study conducted to identify the principal reasons for inflated medicine prices in Vietnam.

Policy options for pharmaceutical pricing and purchasing: issues for low- and middle-income countries.

Pharmaceutical expenditure is rising globally. Most high-income countries have exercised pricing or purchasing strategies to address this pressure. Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), however, usually have less regulated pharmaceutical markets and often lack feasible pricing or purchasing strategies, notwithstanding their wish to effectively manage medicine budgets.

Comorbidity of chronic disease and potential treatment conflicts in older people dispensed antidepressants.

Objectives: the study aimed to examine the prevalence of comorbidity, the prescribing of potentially inappropriate medications and treatment conflicts in a large sample of older people who have been dispensed an antidepressant medicine.

Methods: a cross-sectional study of administrative claims data from the Department of Veterans' Affairs, Australia, 1 April-31 July 2007, of veterans aged > or =65 years was conducted. Comorbidities determined using the pharmaceutical-based comorbidity index, Rx-Risk-V.

Medicines information in medical journal advertising in Australia, Malaysia and the United States: A comparative cross-sectional study.

Objective: The aim of this study was to compare the provision of medicines information in medical journal advertising in Australia, Malaysia and the United States.

Methods: A consecutive sample of 85 unique advertisements from each country was selected from the advertisements published between January 2004 to December 2006 in three widely circulated medical journals and one prescribing reference manual. The availability of brand name and generic name, indication, contraindications, dosage, side-effects, warnings, interactions and precautions was compared between the three countries.

The Australian funding debate on quadrivalent HPV vaccine: a case study for the national pharmaceutical policy.

Objectives: To analyse the media and political reactions to the initial decision of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) to reject funding of the quadrivalent human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine in Australia.

Methods: A case study, informed by media reports and government documents, was utilised to examine the reactions of key stakeholders; PBAC, consumers, consumer organisations, pharmaceutical industry, politicians, health professionals and the media to the initial decision to reject funding of HPV vaccine.

Results: The initial decision to reject funding of the HPV vaccine led to unprecedented public response with over 300 newspaper articles and calls by consumers, health professionals and politicians to intervene in the decision making process.