Objectively measured infant and toddler screen time: Findings from a prospective study.

Objective: Screen time guidelines recommend no screens under two years due to the potential negative impacts on development. While current reports suggest many children exceed this, research relies on parent reports of their children's screen exposure. We objectively assess screen exposure during the first two years and how it differs by maternal education and gender.

Application of multilevel models for predicting pain following root canal treatment.

Objectives: This study developed predictive models for one-week acute and six-month persistent pain following root canal treatment (RCT). An additional aim was to study the gain in predictive efficacy of models containing clinical factors only, over models containing sociodemographic characteristics.

Methods: A secondary data analysis of 708 patients who received RCTs was conducted.

The Hospital Burden Associated With Intergenerational Contact With the Welfare System in Australia.

Importance: Intergenerational welfare contact is a policy issue because of the personal and social costs of entrenched disadvantage; yet, few studies have quantified the burden associated with intergenerational welfare contact for health.

Objective: To examine the proportion of individuals who experienced intergenerational welfare contact and other welfare contact types and to estimate their cause-specific hospital burden.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This cohort study used a whole-of-population linked administrative dataset of individuals followed from birth to age 20 years using deidentified data from the Better Evidence Better Outcomes Linked Data platform (Australian Government Centrelink [welfare payments], birth registration, perinatal birth records, and inpatient hospitalizations).

Examining the intersection of child protection and public housing: development, health and justice outcomes using linked administrative data.

Objective: We described development, health and justice system outcomes for children in contact with child protection and public housing.

Design: Descriptive analysis of outcomes for children known to child protection who also had contact with public housing drawn from the South Australian (SA) Better Evidence Better Outcomes Linked Data (BEBOLD) platform.

Setting: The BEBOLD platform holds linked administrative records collected by government agencies for whole-population successive birth cohorts in SA beginning in 1999.

Emulating a target trial of intensive nurse home visiting in the policy-relevant population using linked administrative data.

Background: Populations willing to participate in randomized trials may not correspond well to policy-relevant target populations. Evidence of effectiveness that is complementary to randomized trials may be obtained by combining the 'target trial' causal inference framework with whole-of-population linked administrative data.

Methods: We demonstrate this approach in an evaluation of the South Australian Family Home Visiting Program, a nurse home visiting programme targeting socially disadvantaged families.

Smoking cessation care during pregnancy: A qualitative exploration of midwives' challenging role.

Problem: The majority of South Australian pregnant women who smoke do not quit during pregnancy. Additionally, the prevalence of smoking is higher among pregnant women living in socially disadvantaged areas.

Background: Understanding challenges in midwives' provision of smoking cessation care can elucidate opportunities to facilitate women's smoking cessation.

Preschool attendance and developmental outcomes at age five in Indigenous and non-Indigenous children: a population-based cohort study of 100 357 Australian children.

Background: Policies to increase Australian Indigenous children's participation in preschool aim to reduce developmental inequities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous children. This study aims to understand the benefits of preschool participation by quantifying the association between preschool participation in the year before school and developmental outcomes at age five in Indigenous and non-Indigenous children.

Methods: We used data from perinatal, hospital, birth registration and school enrolment records, and the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC), for 7384 Indigenous and 95 104 non-Indigenous children who started school in New South Wales, Australia in 2009/2012.

The impact of women's empowerment on their children's early development in 26 African countries.

Background: Every year more than 200 million children under-five years fail to achieve their full developmental potential in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Although women´s empowerment has been associated with improved child health and development outcomes, this is a topic little studied in LMICs. We investigated the associations between women´s empowerment and early childhood development among a sample population of 84537 children aged 36-59 months from national health surveys of 26 African countries.

Comparison of the Tree-Based Machine Learning Algorithms to Cox Regression in Predicting the Survival of Oral and Pharyngeal Cancers: Analyses Based on SEER Database.

This study aims to demonstrate the use of the tree-based machine learning algorithms to predict the 3- and 5-year disease-specific survival of oral and pharyngeal cancers (OPCs) and compare their performance with the traditional Cox regression. A total of 21,154 individuals diagnosed with OPCs between 2004 and 2009 were obtained from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. Three tree-based machine learning algorithms (survival tree (ST), random forest (RF) and conditional inference forest (CF)), together with a reference technique (Cox proportional hazard models (Cox)), were used to develop the survival prediction models.

Associations between Apgar scores and children's educational outcomes at eight years of age.

Background: Low Apgar scores are associated with neonatal morbidity and mortality, but effects of Apgar scores of 0-5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 (compared with 10) on longer-term neurodevelopmental outcomes are less clear.

Aim: To examine the associations between Apgar scores of 0-5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 (compared with 10) and children's educational outcomes as measured by the Australian National Assessment Program-Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests at age eight.

Materials And Methods: We merged perinatal data including all children born in South Australia from 1999 to 2008 with school assessment data (NAPLAN).

Characteristics of paediatric frequent presenters at emergency departments: A whole-of-population study.

Aim: To quantify the frequency of emergency department (ED) presentations and profile the socio-demographic, health and presentation characteristics of paediatric ED frequent presenters.

Methods: A population-based data linkage study of 55 921 children in the South Australian Early Childhood Data Project aged 0-12 years with 100 976 presentations to public hospital EDs in South Australia. For each child, the total number of recurrent ED presentations during a 364-day period post-index presentation was calculated.

Educational activities on language and behavioural outcomes at school entry are more important for socioeconomically disadvantaged children: a prospective observational study of Australian children.

Background: To investigate whether time spent in educational activities at 2-3 years and developmental outcomes at school entry differ among children from different socioeconomic backgrounds.

Methods: Participants were from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (n=4253). Time spent in educational activities was collected using 24-hour time-use diaries.

Effect of maternal smoking during pregnancy on childhood type 1 diabetes: a whole-of-population study.

Aims/hypothesis: Evidence of an association between maternal smoking during pregnancy (prenatal smoking) and childhood type 1 diabetes is mixed. Previous studies have been small and potentially biased due to unmeasured confounding. The objectives of this study were to estimate the association between prenatal smoking and childhood type 1 diabetes, assess residual confounding with a negative control design and an E-value analysis, and summarise published effect estimates from a meta-analysis.

How many words are Australian children hearing in the first year of life?

Background: There is evidence that parents from more socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds engage in fewer verbal interactions with their child than more advantaged parents. This leads to the so-called, '30 million-word gap'. This study aims to investigate the number of words children hear and the number of vocalizations children produce in their first year of life and examines whether these aspects of the early language home environment differ by maternal education.

Potentially preventable hospitalisations in children: a comparison of definitions.

Objective: To compare admission rate, cumulative incidence and social distribution of potentially preventable hospitalisations (PPHs) among children according to the current Australian adult definition, and the child definition developed in New Zealand.

Design, Setting, Participants: Deidentified, linked public hospital, births registry and perinatal data of children aged 0-10 years born 2002-2012 in South Australia (n=1 91 742).

Main Outcome Measures: PPH admission rates among 0-10 year olds and cumulative incidence by age 5 under the adult and child definitions.

The changing temporal association between caesarean birth and neonatal death in Ethiopia: secondary analysis of nationally representative surveys.

Objective: To examine the changing temporal association between caesarean birth and neonatal death within the context of Ethiopia from 2000 to 2016.

Design: Secondary analysis of Ethiopian Demographic and Health Surveys.

Setting: All administrative regions of Ethiopia with surveys conducted in 2000, 2005, 2011 and 2016.

Process trumps potential public good: better vaccine safety through linked cross-jurisdictional immunisation data in Australia.

Objective: To provide insights into complexities of seeking access to state and federal cross-jurisdictional data for linkage with the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register (ACIR). We provide recommendations for improving access and receipt of linked datasets involving Australian Government-administered data.

Methods: We describe requirements for linking eleven federal and state data sources to establish a national linked dataset for safety evaluation of vaccines.

Impact of caesarean section on breastfeeding indicators: within-country and meta-analyses of nationally representative data from 33 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

Objective: To examine the impact of caesarean section on breastfeeding indicators-early initiation of breastfeeding, exclusive breastfeeding under 6 months and children ever breastfed (at least once)-in sub-Saharan Africa.

Design: Secondary analysis of Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS).

Setting: Thirty-three low-income and middle-income countries with a survey conducted between 2010 and 2017/2018.

Effect decomposition through multiple causally nonordered mediators in the presence of exposure-induced mediator-outcome confounding.

Avin et al (2005) showed that, in the presence of exposure-induced mediator-outcome confounding, decomposing the total causal effect (TCE) using standard conditional exchangeability assumptions is not possible even under a nonparametric structural equation model with all confounders observed. Subsequent research has investigated the assumptions required for such a decomposition to be identifiable and estimable from observed data. One approach was proposed by VanderWeele et al (2014).

How much emergency department use by vulnerable populations is potentially preventable?: A period prevalence study of linked public hospital data in South Australia.

Objectives: To quantify emergency department (ED) presentations by individuals within vulnerable populations compared with other adults and the extent to which these are potentially preventable.

Design: Period prevalence study from 2005-2006 to 2010-2011.

Setting: Person-linked, ED administrative records for public hospitals in South Australia.

Implications of vaginal instrumental delivery for children's school achievement: A population-based linked administrative data study.

Background: Vaginal instrumental delivery is a common obstetrical intervention, but its effect on children's later development is not well known.

Aims: To determine if vaginal instrumental delivery is associated with adverse neurodevelopment as measured by school achievement.

Material And Methods: We performed a whole-of-population study involving linkage of routinely collected perinatal data with school assessments among children born in South Australia from 1999 to 2008.

Evaluating the Effectiveness of an App-Based Nurse-Moderated Program for New Mothers With Depression and Parenting Problems (eMums Plus): Protocol for a Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Postnatal depression adversely affects many mothers and infants with good evidence that caregiving difficulties associated with depressive symptoms play a key role in later adverse childhood outcomes. In many countries, there is only limited support available for women who experience symptoms of depression during the postnatal period, particularly those experiencing subthreshold symptom levels. Furthermore, mental health services and community family health services in many countries tend to focus primarily on providing help for depressive symptoms or maternal caregiving, respectively, despite these problems commonly being comorbid.

Effectiveness of a 2-year post-natal nurse home-visiting programme when children are aged 5 years: Results from a natural experiment.

Aim: To evaluate the effect of a 2-year post-natal nurse home visiting (NHV) programme delivered in routine clinical practice to socially disadvantaged mothers on children's development at 5 years.

Methods: The study was a natural experiment resulting from progressive rollout of NHV (2008-2012). Children of three groups of mothers, all eligible for NHV, were compared: (i) mothers receiving NHV in a metropolitan region (n = 197); (ii) mothers in a rural region prior to NHV being available (n = 94); and (iii) mothers receiving NHV in the rural region after it became available (n = 84).

A systematic review and meta-analysis of effects of early life non-cognitive skills on academic, psychosocial, cognitive and health outcomes.

Success in school and the labour market relies on more than high intelligence. Associations between "non-cognitive" skills in childhood, such as attention, self-regulation, and perseverance, and later outcomes have been widely investigated. In a systematic review of this literature, we screened 9553 publications, reviewed 554 eligible publications, and interpreted results from 222 better quality publications.

Use of different combination diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis vaccines does not increase risk of 30-day infant mortality. A population-based linkage cohort study using administrative data from the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register and the National Death Index.

Objective: To determine whether differences in combination DTaP vaccine types at 2, 4 and 6 months of age were associated with mortality (all-cause or non-specific), within 30 days of vaccination.

Design: Observational nationwide cohort study.

Setting: Linked population data from the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register and National Death Index.