Assessing the Burden of Laboratory-Confirmed Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection in a Population Cohort of Australian Children Through Record Linkage.

Background: Significant progress has been made towards an effective respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine. Age-stratified estimates of RSV burden are urgently needed for vaccine implementation. Current estimates are limited to small cohorts or clinical coding data only.

The impact of pre-pregnancy body mass index and gestational weight gain on placental abruption risk: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Purpose: The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the associations between pre-pregnancy body mass index and gestational weight gain and placental abruption.

Methods: Relevant studies were identified from PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus and CINAHL. Unpublished findings from analyses of linked population-based data sets from Western Australia (2012-2015, n = 114,792) were also included.

Geographical disparities in emergency department presentations for acute respiratory infections and risk factors for presenting: a population-based cohort study of Western Australian children.

Introduction: Studies examining acute respiratory infections (ARIs) in emergency department (EDs), particularly in rural and remote areas, are rare. This study aimed to examine the burden of ARIs among Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children presenting to Western Australian (WA) EDs from 2002 to 2012.

Method: Using a retrospective population-based cohort study linking ED records to birth and perinatal records, we examined presentation rates for metropolitan, rural and remote Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children from 469 589 births.

The Impact of Pneumococcal Vaccination on Bacterial and Viral Pneumonia in Western Australian Children: Record Linkage Cohort Study of 469589 Births, 1996-2012.

Background: Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) was included in Australia's National Immunisation Program for all children from 2005. We assessed the impact of PCV on all-cause and pathogen-specific pneumonia hospitalizations in Western Australian (WA) children aged ≤16 years.

Methods: All hospitalizations with pneumonia-related International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision, Australian Modification diagnosis codes occurring in WA-born children (1996-2012) were linked to pathology records.

Record linkage study of the pathogen-specific burden of respiratory viruses in children.

Background: Reliance on hospital discharge diagnosis codes alone will likely underestimate the burden of respiratory viruses.

Objectives: To describe the epidemiology of respiratory viruses more accurately, we used record linkage to examine data relating to all children hospitalized in Western Australia between 2000 and 2012.

Patients/methods: We extracted hospital, infectious disease notification and laboratory data of a cohort of children born in Western Australia between 1996 and 2012.

Potential impact of a maternal vaccine for RSV: A mathematical modelling study.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a major cause of respiratory morbidity and one of the main causes of hospitalisation in young children. While there is currently no licensed vaccine for RSV, a vaccine candidate for pregnant women is undergoing phase 3 trials. We developed a compartmental age-structured model for RSV transmission, validated using linked laboratory-confirmed RSV hospitalisation records for metropolitan Western Australia.

Using record linkage to validate notification and laboratory data for a more accurate assessment of notifiable infectious diseases.

Background: Infectious disease burden is commonly assessed using notification data. Using retrospective record linkage in Western Australia, we described how well notification data captures laboratory detections of influenza, pertussis and invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD).

Methods: We linked data from the Western Australian Notifiable Infectious Diseases Database (WANIDD) and the PathWest Laboratory Database (PathWest) pertaining to the Triple I birth cohort, born in Western Australia in 1996-2012.

Viral Etiology and the Impact of Codetection in Young Children Presenting With Influenza-Like Illness.

Background: Children with acute respiratory tract infection (ARTI) frequently exhibit virus-virus codetection, yet the clinical significance of ARTI remains contentious. Using data from a prospective cohort of children with influenza-like illness, we examined the virology of ARTI and determined the clinical impact of virus-virus codetection.

Methods: Children aged 6 to 59 months who presented to a tertiary pediatric hospital between influenza seasons 2008 and 2012 with fever and acute respiratory symptoms were enrolled, and nasal samples were collected.

Time series analysis of RSV and bronchiolitis seasonality in temperate and tropical Western Australia.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) causes respiratory illness in young children and is most commonly associated with bronchiolitis. RSV typically occurs as annual or biennial winter epidemics in temperate regions, with less pronounced seasonality in the tropics. We sought to characterise and compare the seasonality of RSV and bronchiolitis in temperate and tropical Western Australia.

Systematic review and meta-analysis of respiratory viral coinfections in children.

Respiratory infections are a common cause of paediatric morbidity. Clinical outcomes in children hospitalized with single respiratory virus infection are compared with those with two or more viral-viral coinfection. Studies were restricted to those reporting on children aged less than 5 years (PROSPERO CRD#42014009133).

Optimization is required when using linked hospital and laboratory data to investigate respiratory infections.

Objective: Despite a recommendation for microbiological testing, only 45% of children hospitalized for respiratory infections in our previous data linkage study linked to a microbiological record. We conducted a chart review to validate linked microbiological data.

Study Design And Setting: The chart review consisted of children aged <5 years admitted to seven selected hospitals for respiratory infections in Western Australia, 2000-2011.

Risk factors and comorbidities for invasive pneumococcal disease in Western Australian Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people.

Australian Aboriginal people have among the highest rates of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) worldwide. We investigated clinical diagnosis, risk factors, comorbidities and vaccine coverage in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal IPD cases. Using enhanced surveillance, we identified IPD cases in Western Australia, Australia, between 1997 and 2007.

Diverging trends in gastroenteritis hospitalizations during 2 decades in western Australian Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children.

Background: Gastroenteritis is a major cause of pediatric morbidity. We describe temporal, spatial and seasonal trends in age-specific gastroenteritis hospitalizations among Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australian children during 2 decades, providing a baseline to evaluate the impact of a rotavirus vaccine program begun in 2007.

Methods: We conducted a population-based, data linkage study of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal births in Western Australia, 1983 to 2006, and analyzed gastroenteritis-coded hospitalizations before age 15 years in the cohort of 596,465 births.