Food systems contribute to up to 37% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and emissions are increasing. Since the emissions vary greatly between different foods, citizens' choices can make a big difference to climate change. Public engagement events are opportunities to communicate these complex issues: to raise awareness about the impact of citizens' own food choices on climate change and to generate support for changes in all food system activities, the food environment and food policy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Racism is a key determinant of the health of Indigenous Australians that may explain the unremitting gap in health and socioeconomic outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. We quantified the population-based prevalence of experiences of racism of Indigenous adults in the Australian state of Victoria and investigated whether this was independent of social determinants and lifestyle risk factors.
Methods: We combined data from the 2011, 2012 and 2014 Victorian Population Health Surveys to obtain a sample size of 33,833 Victorian adults, including 387 Indigenous adults.
Background: There is a persistent gap in the health of Aboriginal Victorians compared with non-Aboriginal Victorians, where Aboriginal Victorians have poorer health. Currently, the most commonly touted explanation for this gap revolves around health behaviours known as 'lifestyle risk factors'. Yet the gap in health is similarly matched by persistent gaps in social and economic outcomes that reflect past and ongoing discrimination of Aboriginal peoples across Australia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCatheter Cardiovasc Interv
October 2016
Objectives: To identify factors associated with outcomes following rotational atherectomy (RA).
Background: RA is an effective way to mechanically modify heavily calcified lesions before stenting; however its outcomes are not well defined.
Methods And Results: Retrospective evaluation of all patients who underwent RA in three large UK centers (Leeds General Infirmary (LGI), Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (RIE) and University Hospital of North Staffordshire (UHNS)) from March 2005 to January 2013.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults in the Australian state of Victoria have a higher prevalence of psychological distress than their non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander counterparts. We sought to explain this inequality, focussing on the social determinants of health. We used population-based survey data from the 2008 Victorian Population Health Survey; a cross-sectional landline computer-assisted telephone survey of 34,168 randomly selected adults.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Aboriginal Australians are a culturally, linguistically and experientially diverse population, for whom national statistics may mask important geographic differences in their health and the determinants of their health. We sought to identify the determinants of health of Aboriginal adults who lived in the state of Victoria, compared with their non-Aboriginal counterparts.
Methods: We obtained data from the 2008 Victorian Population Health Survey: a cross-sectional computer-assisted telephone interview survey of 34,168 randomly selected adults.
Objective: We sought to objectively quantify the independent impact of significant mitral regurgitation (MR) on prognosis in patients with multiple comorbidities and ascertain the extent to which median survival is affected by increasing comorbidities.
Methods: This was a retrospective matched cohort study using a clinical-echocardiography reporting database linked to a clinical and administrative database in an Australian tertiary hospital. We identified our study cohort (patients with significant MR) and control cohort (without MR) on transthoracic echocardiographies performed between 2005 and 2010.
Background: The prevalence of food insecurity is substantially higher among Australians of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent. The purpose of this study is to explain the relationship between food insecurity and Aboriginal and Torres Islander status in the state of Victoria.
Methods: Data were obtained from the 2008 Victorian Population Health Survey; a cross-sectional landline computer-assisted telephone interview survey of 34,168 randomly selected Victorians aged 18 years and older; including 339 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
Aust N Z J Public Health
February 2013
Objective: Investigate the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and prevalence of overweight and/or obesity, by sex, using total annual household income as the indicator of SES and the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended ranges of self-reported Body Mass Index (BMI) as the indicator of overweight and/or obesity.
Methods: Total annual household income and BMI data were obtained from the Victorian Population Health Survey (VPHS), an annual computer-assisted telephone survey of the health and well-being of Victorian adults aged 18 years and older. Statistical analysis was conducted using ordinary least squares linear regression on the logarithms of age-standardised prevalence estimates of overweight (25.
Background: The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) appears more sensitive to mild cognitive impairment (MCI) than the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE): over 50% of TIA and stroke patients with an MMSE score of ≥27 ('normal' cognitive function) at ≥6 months after index event, score <26 on the MoCA, a cutoff which has good sensitivity and specificity for MCI in this population. We hypothesized that sensitivity of the MoCA to MCI might in part be due to detection of different patterns of cognitive domain impairment. We therefore compared performance on the MMSE and MoCA in subjects without major cognitive impairment (MMSE score of ≥24) with differing clinical characteristics: a TIA and stroke cohort in which frontal/executive deficits were expected to be prevalent and a memory research cohort.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe comparative ability of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and MMSE to detect mild cognitive difficulties was investigated in 107 older adults. The sensitivity of the MoCA to detect cognitive impairment with a cutoff score of <26 was investigated, as compared to the MMSE across all scores, and at a cutoff of ≥27. Performance on MoCA subtests was compared at these MMSE cutoffs to determine profiles of early cognitive difficulties.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTo predict current and future body mass index (BMI) and prevalence of overweight and obesity in Australian children and adults based on sex, age and year of birth (cohort). These predictions are needed for population health planning and evaluation. Data were drawn from 11 cross-sectional national or state population surveys conducted in Australia between 1969 and 2004.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To describe the contemporary management and outcomes of patients presenting with ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) in Australia.
Design, Participants And Setting: Observational analysis of data for patients who presented with suspected STEMI and enrolled in the Australian Acute Coronary Syndrome Prospective Audit from 1 November 2005 to 31 July 2007.
Main Outcome Measures: Factors associated with use of reperfusion therapy and timely use of reperfusion therapy, and the effects of reperfusion on mortality.
An illusion of motion can be induced by presenting a horizontal line suddenly between two visual markers. If one marker is briefly illuminated (the "cue") prior to the appearance of the line, the line appears to spread from the cue toward the other marker. This is termed the line-motion illusion, and was here reliably demonstrated in a sample of elderly participants.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The aim of the ACE-Obesity study was to determine the economic credentials of interventions which aim to prevent unhealthy weight gain in children and adolescents. We have reported elsewhere on the modelled effectiveness of 13 obesity prevention interventions in children. In this paper, we report on the cost results and associated methods together with the innovative approach to priority setting that underpins the ACE-Obesity study.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To assess whether clozapine is likely to be more cost-effective than other second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs) in people with schizophrenia.
Methods: An integrated clinical and economic multicenter, rater-blind, randomized controlled trial (RCT) compared clozapine to the class of other SGAs, using the perspectives of the National Health Service, social support services, and patients. The practice setting was secondary and primary care in the United Kingdom; patients were followed for 1 year.
Background: There are claims that the extra costs of atypical (second-generation) antipsychotic drugs over conventional (first-generation) drugs are offset by improved health-related quality of life.
Aims: To determine the relative costs and value of treatment with conventional or atypical antipsychotics in people with schizophrenia.
Method: Cost-effectiveness acceptability analysis integrated clinical and economic randomised controlled trial data of conventional and atypical antipsychotics in routine practice.
Context: Second-generation (atypical) antipsychotics (SGAs) are more expensive than first-generation (typical) antipsychotics (FGAs) but are perceived to be more effective, with fewer adverse effects, and preferable to patients. Most evidence comes from short-term efficacy trials of symptoms.
Objective: To test the hypothesis that in people with schizophrenia requiring a change in treatment, SGAs other than clozapine are associated with improved quality of life across 1 year compared with FGAs.
Objective: To report on a new modelling approach developed for the assessing cost-effectiveness in obesity (ACE-Obesity) project and the likely population health benefit and strength of evidence for 13 potential obesity prevention interventions in children and adolescents in Australia.
Methods: We used the best available evidence, including evidence from non-traditional epidemiological study designs, to determine the health benefits as body mass index (BMI) units saved and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) saved. We developed new methods to model the impact of behaviours on BMI post-intervention where this was not measured and the impacts on DALYs over the child's lifetime (on the assumption that changes in BMI were maintained into adulthood).
Objectives: To determine the clinical and cost-effectiveness of different classes of antipsychotic drug treatment in people with schizophrenia responding inadequately to, or having unacceptable side-effects from, their current medication.
Design: Two pragmatic, randomised controlled trials (RCTs) were undertaken. The first RCT (band 1) compared the class of older, inexpensive conventional drugs with the class of new atypical drugs in people with schizophrenic disorders, whose current antipsychotic drug treatment was being changed either because of inadequate clinical response or owing to side-effects.
There is good evidence that clozapine is more efficacious than first-generation antipsychotic drugs in resistant schizophrenia. It is less clear if clozapine is more effective than the other second-generation antipsychotic (SGA) drugs. A noncommercially funded, pragmatic, open, multisite, randomized controlled trial was conducted in the United Kingdom National Health Service (NHS).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives To examine clinicians' attitudes regarding the relative benefits and risks of conventional and atypical antipsychotic medication, and the perceived validity of the CUtLASS study. To examine the attitudes of participant clinicians' regarding the operation and administration, and the potential clinical impact of the findings. Method Two hundred and sixty-two clinicians were each sent an anonymous questionnaire, and invited to indicate whether they agreed or disagreed with each of to nine statements (from agree to disagree).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAim: To determine whether an oral tetravalent rotavirus vaccine (RV-TV) can be safely coadministered with a combined diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis-Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccine (DTP/Hib) and oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV) to healthy infants without interfering with the immune responses to any of the component antigens.
Methods: Two hundred sixty-seven infants ages 2 to 3 months were randomly assigned in a double blind fashion to receive three doses of either placebo or RV-TV, each containing 4 x 10(5) plaque-forming units, concurrently with DTP/ Hib (Tetramune) and OPV at approximately 2, 4 and 6 months of age. Infants were followed for 5 days after each dose for the occurrence of adverse events and subsequently until 3 to 6 weeks after the third dose of RV-TV or placebo.
The increased expectation for women with learning disabilities to become more autonomous and independent is generally a positive and dynamic force. However, care must be taken to ensure that, within this environment, women with learning disabilities are not isolated or lack support as this increases their vulnerability. These issues exist for all women within our society, but women with learning disabilities are more vulnerable because of their lack of voice both individually and politically.
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