Cost is a major barrier to the use of inhaled corticosteroids for obstructive lung disease.

Objective: To examine the effect of the level of patient copayment on the rate of purchase of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) by patients with obstructive lung disease.

Design And Setting: Cross-sectional study of records of all prescriptions for ICS dispensed to general and concessional beneficiaries aged 15 years or over in the period January 2003 to December 2006. Data were obtained from the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, which subsidises medication costs for all Australians.

Trends in hospitalizations for anaphylaxis, angioedema, and urticaria in Australia, 1993-1994 to 2004-2005.

Background: Recent investigations in developed countries have found marked increases in the prevalence of allergic conditions.

Objective: We sought to examine recent time trends in the prevalence of anaphylaxis, angioedema, and urticaria by describing trends and age and sex differentials in hospitalizations for these conditions in Australia.

Methods: Data on hospital admissions and deaths for anaphylaxis, angioedema, and urticaria were extracted for the periods 1993-1994 to 2004-2005 and 1997-2004, respectively.

Reattendance at hospital for asthma in two Australian states, 2000-2003.

Objective And Background: Reattendance rates at hospitals and emergency departments (ED) can provide a valuable marker of the quality and effectiveness of clinical care. Linked hospital and ED data from New South Wales and Victoria, Australia, were used to examine reattendances for asthma.

Methods: Hospital and ED data were linked to identify individuals who reattended hospital or ED for asthma within 28 days of an initial attendance.

Hospital readmissions for asthma: a feasibility study comparing strategies for linking hospital morbidity data.

Objective: To investigate whether the variables in the National Hospital Morbidity Database (NHMD) provide sufficient information to validly link hospital admission records for the same person so that persons admitted and re-admissions for a specified disease can be enumerated.

Methods: Records of hospital admissions where asthma was the principal diagnosis were extracted from the New South Wales Inpatient Statistics Collection for the period July 2000 to June 2003 and linked using several strategies. The optimal' strategy applied probabilistic record linkage, using many demographic and administrative variables.

Asthma in Australia 2005.

A recent report outlines the good and the bad news about asthma.

Probable psittacosis outbreak linked to wild birds.

In autumn 2002, an outbreak of probable psittacosis occurred among residents of the Blue Mountains district, Australia. We conducted a case-control study to determine independent risk factors for psittacosis by comparing exposures between hospitalized patients and other residents selected randomly from the telephone directory. Of the 59 case-patients with laboratory results supportive of psittacosis, 48 participated in a case-control study with 310 controls.

Rates of non-AIDS-defining cancers in people with HIV infection before and after AIDS diagnosis.

Objective: To describe the incidence of non-AIDS-defining cancers in people with HIV infection before and after the occurrence of AIDS, and to examine the association of cancer risk with immune deficiency.

Design: Cohort study involving nation-wide linkage of HIV, AIDS and cancer registry data.

Methods: Association of cancer risk with immune deficiency was examined by analysing cancer risks in four periods between HIV diagnosis, AIDS and death.