Publications by authors named "Megan Hickie"

Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates the incidence and characteristics of disseminated varicella zoster virus (VZV) infections following the herpes zoster vaccine (ZVL) in immunocompromised patients in Australia between 2016 and 2020.
  • Over this period, 854 adverse events were reported after administering nearly 1.1 million doses of ZVL, with 14 cases classified as confirmed or probable disseminated VZV infections, leading to hospitalizations and three deaths.
  • The findings highlight the risks of administering ZVL to immunocompromised individuals, indicating that despite guidelines, some healthcare providers inadvertently vaccinated patients who should have avoided the vaccine.
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This report summarises Australian spontaneous surveillance data for adverse events following immunisation (AEFI) for 2020, reported to the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), and describes reporting trends over the 21-year period from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2020. There were 3,827 AEFI records for vaccines administered in 2020, an annual AEFI reporting rate of 14.9 per 100,000 population.

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This report summarises Australian spontaneous surveillance data for adverse events following immunisation (AEFI) for 2019 reported to the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) and describes reporting trends over the 20-year period from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2019. There were 3,782 AEFI records for vaccines administered in 2019, an annual AEFI reporting rate of 14.9 per 100,000 population.

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Background: Australia was the first country to implement a fully funded vaccination program with quadrivalent human papillomavirus vaccine (4vHPV) in 2007, including males from 2013. We examined adverse events (AE) following vaccination with 4vHPV from 11 years of post-marketing data, focusing on a period of enhanced surveillance and adverse events of special interest (AESI).

Methods: AE following 4vHPV doses administered between April 2007 and December 2017 reported to Australia's national regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration, were examined; reports collected during enhanced surveillance in 2013 and 2014 were analyzed separately.

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This report summarises Australian spontaneous surveillance data for adverse events following immunisation (AEFI) for 2018 reported to the Therapeutic Goods Administration and describes reporting trends over the 19-year period 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2018. There were 4221 AEFI records for vaccines administered in 2018, an annual AEFI reporting rate of 16.9 per 100,000 population.

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Background: This study investigated the prevalence of overweight and obese Indigenous kindergarten children in the Australian Capital Territory.

Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on data collected as part of the Kindergarten Health Check, a cross sectional population based survey conducted in the ACT from 2004 to 2008.

Results: The prevalence of overweight and obesity was statistically significantly higher among Indigenous (18%) compared to non-Indigenous kindergarten children (14%) (p=0.

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Background: Depression causes substantial disease burden in both developed and developing countries. To reduce this burden, we need to promote understanding of depression as a major health condition. The International Depression Literacy Survey (IDLS) has been developed to assess understanding of depression in different cultural and health care settings.

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