Improving the quality of healthcare: a cross-sectional study of the features of successful clinical networks.

Objectives: Networks of clinical experts are being established internationally to help embed evidence based care in health systems. There is emerging evidence that these clinical networks can drive quality improvement programs, but the features that distinguish successful networks are largely unknown. We examined the factors that make clinical networks effective at improving quality of care and facilitating system-wide changes.

Mortality after admission for acute myocardial infarction in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in New South Wales, Australia: a multilevel data linkage study.

Background: Heart disease is a leading cause of the gap in burden of disease between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians. Our study investigated short- and long-term mortality after admission for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people admitted with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) to public hospitals in New South Wales, Australia, and examined the impact of the hospital of admission on outcomes.

Methods: Admission records were linked to mortality records for 60047 patients aged 25-84 years admitted with a diagnosis of AMI between July 2001 and December 2008.

Reduction of road traffic noise and mental health: an intervention study.

Road traffic noise exposure leads to annoyance and impairment of quality of life and may impair health. If this association is causal, a reduction in noise exposure should result in a reduction in noise annoyance and improvement in quality of life. This study examines whether the reduction in road traffic noise following the introduction of a bypass leads to reduction in noise annoyance and common mental disorder and an improvement in quality of life.

Children's annoyance reactions to aircraft and road traffic noise.

Since annoyance reactions of children to environmental noise have rarely been investigated, no source specific exposure-response relations are available. The aim of this paper is to investigate children's reactions to aircraft and road traffic noise and to derive exposure-response relations. To this end, children's annoyance reactions to aircraft and road traffic noise in both the home and the school setting were investigated using the data gathered in a cross-sectional multicenter study, carried out among 2844 children (age 9-11 years) attending 89 primary schools around three European airports.

Psychological symptoms and physical health and health behaviours in adolescents: a prospective 2-year study in East London.

Aims: To examine whether physical health and health-risk behaviours in young people are risk factors for psychological distress and depressive symptoms over a 2-year period.

Design/setting: A 2-year, prospective epidemiological cohort study in East London.

Participants: A total of 1615 adolescents from the Research with East London Adolescents: Community Health Survey (RELACHS)-a representative cohort of young people aged 11-12 and 13-14 years at baseline, followed-up after 2 years.

Social support, ethnicity and mental health in adolescents.

Objective: In this study, we explored whether social support varied with ethnic group in young people, and if it explained ethnic differences in prevalence of psychological distress.

Methods: A representative sample of 2790 East London adolescents (11-14 years) completed a classroom-based self-report questionnaire for this cross sectional survey. Social support was assessed using the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS).

Variations in associations of health risk behaviors among ethnic minority early adolescents.

Purpose: To investigate patterns of vulnerability and protection factors associated with risk behaviors and the co-occurrence of risk behaviors in minority ethnicity early adolescents.

Methods: Analysis of data from the Research with East London Adolescents Community Health Survey (RELACHS), a school-based study of a representative sample of 2789 adolescents age 11-14 in 2001 (sample 73% non-Caucasian, 21% born outside the United Kingdom). Questionnaire data were obtained on sociodemographic variables, ethnicity, smoking, drinking, drug use, psychological well-being, physical health, and social support from family and peers.

Exposure-effect relations between aircraft and road traffic noise exposure at school and reading comprehension: the RANCH project.

Transport noise is an increasingly prominent feature of the urban environment, making noise pollution an important environmental public health issue. This paper reports on the 2001-2003 RANCH project, the first cross-national epidemiologic study known to examine exposure-effect relations between aircraft and road traffic noise exposure and reading comprehension. Participants were 2,010 children aged 9-10 years from 89 schools around Amsterdam Schiphol, Madrid Barajas, and London Heathrow airports.

Ethnicity, social deprivation and psychological distress in adolescents: school-based epidemiological study in east London.

Background: In adults the prevalence of psychological distress varies in different ethnic groups, and this has been explained by differences in socio-economic status. Is this also the case in adolescents?

Aims: To examine whether ethnic differences in prevalence of psychological distress in adolescents are associated with social deprivation.

Method: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was used to assess 2790 male and female pupils, aged 11-14 years, from a representative sample of 28 east London secondary schools.

Social and demographic predictors of parental consultation for child psychological difficulties.

Background: Results from previous studies examining determinants of parental consultation for child mental health provide inconsistent evidence concerning socio-demographic predictors. The aim of this study is to identify the sociodemographic predictors of parental consultation for child psychological difficulties.

Method: An epidemiological cross-sectional analysis was carried out using a sample of 5,913 children aged between 4 and 15 years from the Health Survey for England.