Male sexual assault: Physical injury and vulnerability in 103 presentations.

Objectives: To i) describe the demographic and assault characteristics of males alleging recent sexual assault, ii) determine the severity and frequency of general body injury and the frequency of anal and genital injury, iii) identify vulnerability factors and assault characteristics associated with injury.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Sexual Assault Resource Centre (SARC), Western Australia.

The Effect of Vasectomy Reversal on Prostate Cancer Risk: International Meta-Analysis of 684,660 Vasectomized Men.

Purpose: Evidence of the effect of vasectomy on prostate cancer is conflicting with the issue of detection bias a key criticism. We examined the effect of vasectomy reversal on prostate cancer risk in a cohort of vasectomized men. Evidence of a protective effect would be consistent with a harmful effect of vasectomy on prostate cancer risk while nullifying the issue of detection bias.

Use of health services in the last year of life and cause of death in people with intellectual disability: a retrospective matched cohort study.

Objective: To describe the cause of death together with emergency department presentations and hospital admissions in the last year of life of people with intellectual disability.

Method: A retrospective matched cohort study using de-identified linked data of people aged 20 years or over, with and without intellectual disability who died during 2009 to 2013 in Western Australia. Emergency department presentations and hospital admissions in the last year of life of people with intellectual disability are described along with cause of death.

The impact of community-based palliative care on acute hospital use in the last year of life is modified by time to death, age and underlying cause of death. A population-based retrospective cohort study.

Objective: Community-based palliative care is known to be associated with reduced acute care health service use. Our objective was to investigate how reduced acute care hospital use in the last year of life varied temporally and by patient factors.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study of the last year of life of 12,763 Western Australians who died from cancer or one of seven non-cancer conditions.

Sexual assault and general body injuries: A detailed cross-sectional Australian study of 1163 women.

Objectives: To describe the frequency and severity of general body injury in women alleging recent sexual assault and then identify demographic and assault characteristics associated with injury severity.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Sexual Assault Resource Centre (SARC), Western Australia.

Maternal alcohol use disorder and subsequent child protection contact: A record-linkage population cohort study.

We examined the relationship between a maternal alcohol-use diagnosis, and the timing of diagnosis, and child protection outcomes in a Western Australian population cohort. This analysis made use of routinely collected linked administrative health and child protection data. Those in scope for the study were women who had a birth recorded on the Western Australian Midwives Notification System (1983-2007).

Maternal alcohol use disorder and child school attendance outcomes for non-Indigenous and Indigenous children in Western Australia: a population cohort record linkage study.

Objectives: Examine the relationship between maternal alcohol use disorder and child school attendance outcomes for non-Indigenous and Indigenous children in Western Australia.

Design: Population cohort study.

Setting: Routinely collected linked administrative health, education and child protection data.

Estimating parameters for probabilistic linkage of privacy-preserved datasets.

Background: Probabilistic record linkage is a process used to bring together person-based records from within the same dataset (de-duplication) or from disparate datasets using pairwise comparisons and matching probabilities. The linkage strategy and associated match probabilities are often estimated through investigations into data quality and manual inspection. However, as privacy-preserved datasets comprise encrypted data, such methods are not possible.

Maternal Alcohol Use Disorder and Risk of Child Contact with the Justice System in Western Australia: A Population Cohort Record Linkage Study.

Background: Early contact with the justice system is associated with a multitude of negative outcomes across the life course. This includes an increased risk of ongoing justice contact, social disadvantage and marginalization, and mental health and substance use issues. Children whose mothers have an alcohol use disorder may be at risk of early justice system contact, and we sought to quantify this relationship in a Western Australian cohort.

Capturing sexual assault data: An information system designed by forensic clinicians and healthcare researchers.

Background: The Sexual Assault Resource Center (SARC) in Perth, Western Australia provides free 24-hour medical, forensic, and counseling services to persons aged over 13 years following sexual assault.

Objective: The aim of this research was to design a data management system that maintains accurate quality information on all sexual assault cases referred to SARC, facilitating audit and peer-reviewed research.

Methods: The work to develop SARC Medical Services Clinical Information System (SARC-MSCIS) took place during 2007-2009 as a collaboration between SARC and Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia.

Maternal alcohol disorders and school achievement: a population cohort record linkage study in Western Australia.

Objective: Maternal alcohol use disorder is a risk factor for a range of developmental outcomes in children. This study examines school achievement in children of Indigenous and non-Indigenous mothers with an alcohol-related diagnosis.

Design, Setting And Participants: This is a Western Australian population cohort study of mothers with a record of an alcohol-related diagnosis classified by the International Classification of Diseases Revisions 9/10 codes as recorded on administrative databases, and of their offspring born between 1989 and 2007 (n=18 486 exposed children), with a frequency matched comparison cohort of mothers with no record of alcohol diagnosis and their offspring (n=48 262 comparison children).

Genital and anal injuries: A cross-sectional Australian study of 1266 women alleging recent sexual assault.

Objectives: To describe the frequency of genital and anal injury and associated demographic and assault characteristics in women alleging sexual assault.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Sexual Assault Resource Centre (SARC), Western Australia.

Ensuring Privacy When Integrating Patient-Based Datasets: New Methods and Developments in Record Linkage.

In an era where the volume of structured and unstructured digital data has exploded, there has been an enormous growth in the creation of data about individuals that can be used for understanding and treating disease. Joining these records together at an individual level provides a complete picture of a patient's interaction with health services and allows better assessment of patient outcomes and effectiveness of treatment and services. Record linkage techniques provide an efficient and cost-effective method to bring individual records together as patient profiles.

Improving the Estimation of Risk-Adjusted Grouped Hospital Standardized Mortality Ratios Using Cross-Jurisdictional Linked Administrative Data: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Background: Hospitals and death registries in Australia are operated under individual state government jurisdictions. Some state borders are located in heavily populated areas or are located near to major capital cities. Mortality indicators for hospital located near state borders may not be estimated accurately if patients are lost as they cross state borders.

Risk of persistent or recurrent neoplasia in conservatively treated women with cervical adenocarcinoma in situ with negative histological margins.

Introduction: Conservative treatments including cold knife cone biopsy (CKC) or loop electrosurgical excision procedure (LEEP) are fertility-preserving alternatives to hysterectomy. The risks of persistent cervical neoplasia in women with negative surgical margins following conservative treatment of adenocarcinoma-in-situ (AIS) are uncertain. This study aims to investigate the risk of persistent or recurrent cervical neoplasia [AIS, adenocarcinoma and/or high-grade cervical squamous intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN)] and compliance with follow-up recommendations in conservatively treated women with AIS and negative histopathological margins.

The Association of Community-Based Palliative Care With Reduced Emergency Department Visits in the Last Year of Life Varies by Patient Factors.

Study Objective: Palliative care has been shown to reduce end-of-life emergency department (ED) use. Our objective was to determine how the association of community-based palliative care with reduced ED visits in the last year of life varied by patient factors.

Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of 11,875 decedents who died with neoplasms, heart failure, renal failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or liver failure in Western Australia in 2009 to 2010.

Risk of persistent and recurrent cervical neoplasia following incidentally detected adenocarcinoma in situ.

Background: Adenocarcinoma in situ of the uterine cervix is a precursor to cervical adenocarcinoma and may coexist with both adenocarcinoma and high-grade squamous dysplasia (cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 2 and 3). Up to 60% of adenocarcinoma in situ lesions are detected incidentally following excisional biopsies performed for the treatment of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 2/3. To date there are no data regarding risk factors for persisting or progressive cervical neoplasia in these patients.

Value of Pathology Review in a Population-based Series of Ovarian Tumors.

Ovarian neoplasia comprises a heterogenous group of tumors with distinct clinicopathologic and molecular features and therefore assessment of potential risk factors should be tumor subtype specific. As part of ongoing epidemiological investigations of ovarian neoplasia in Western Australia, we performed an initial review of original pathology reports followed, in selected cases, by reassessment of histology material to optimize accurate diagnosis. Additional immunohistochemistry, often using antibodies unavailable at the time of initial assessment, was also performed as required.

Issues using linkage of hospital records and death certificate data to determine the size of a potential palliative care population.

Background: Studies aiming to identify palliative care populations have used data from death certificates and in some cases hospital records. The size and characteristics of the identified populations can show considerable variation depending on the data sources used. It is important that service planners and researchers are aware of this.

Non-fatal strangulation in sexual assault: A study of clinical and assault characteristics highlighting the role of intimate partner violence.

Objective: To describe the prevalence, risk factors, signs and symptoms of non-fatal strangulation (NFS) in women referred to a Sexual Assault Resource Centre (SARC) following recent sexual assault.

Methods: A cross-sectional study using data routinely collected at time of forensic examination of women (age ≥ 13 years) referred to the Western Australian SARC between Jan-2009 and Mar-2015 alleging a recent sexual assault. Data on demographics, assault characteristics and forensic findings were available.

Limited privacy protection and poor sensitivity: Is it time to move on from the statistical linkage key-581?

Background: The statistical linkage key (SLK-581) is a common tool for record linkage in Australia, due to its ability to provide some privacy protection. However, newer privacy-preserving approaches may provide greater privacy protection, while allowing high-quality linkage.

Objective: To evaluate the standard SLK-581, encrypted SLK-581 and a newer privacy-preserving approach using Bloom filters, in terms of both privacy and linkage quality.

A retrospective population based cohort study of access to specialist palliative care in the last year of life: who is still missing out a decade on?

Background: Historically, specialist palliative care has been accessed by a greater proportion of people dying with cancer compared to people with other life-limiting conditions. More recently, a variety of measures to improve access to palliative care for people dying from non-cancer conditions have been implemented. There are few rigorous population-based studies that document changes in palliative care service delivery relative to the number of patients who could benefit from such services.

A Simple Sampling Method for Estimating the Accuracy of Large Scale Record Linkage Projects.

Background: Record linkage techniques allow different data collections to be brought together to provide a wider picture of the health status of individuals. Ensuring high linkage quality is important to guarantee the quality and integrity of research. Current methods for measuring linkage quality typically focus on precision (the proportion of incorrect links), given the difficulty of measuring the proportion of false negatives.

Big data and ophthalmic research.

Large population-based health administrative databases, clinical registries, and data linkage systems are a rapidly expanding resource for health research. Ophthalmic research has benefited from the use of these databases in expanding the breadth of knowledge in areas such as disease surveillance, disease etiology, health services utilization, and health outcomes. Furthermore, the quantity of data available for research has increased exponentially in recent times, particularly as e-health initiatives come online in health systems across the globe.