Hospital Dental Admissions and Caries Experience Among Children With Neurodevelopmental Disabilities: A Population-Based Record Linkage Cohort Study.

Background: Within Aotearoa | New Zealand, rates of largely preventable severe caries and dental hospitalisations among children are increasing and inequalities exist. However, little population-based empirical evidence exists describing this oral health burden among children with neurodevelopmental disabilities (NDDs). This study aimed to estimate and compare the rates of dental hospital admissions in a near-national population of children aged ≤ 14 years with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, intellectual disability or any NDD after accounting for key confounding variables.

"A sweet in a polythene is not sweet": men's perceptions of their roles and experiences with family planning in East Uganda.

The significance of men's influence as partners in contraceptive decision-making and family size is often understated, particularly in patriarchal societies. Understanding men's experiences and perceptions of family planning is necessary to address women's unmet needs for contraception. This study examined men's involvement in contraceptive use and decision-making in the Busoga region of east Uganda.

Self-reported hearing loss in urban Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults: unmeasured, unknown and unmanaged.

Background Effective management of hearing loss in adults is fundamental for communication, relationships, employment, and learning. This study examined the rates and management of self-reported hearing loss in urban Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults. Methods A retrospective, observational study of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged ≥15years who had annual health checks at an urban Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander primary healthcare clinic in Inala, Queensland, was conducted to determine self-reported hearing loss rates by age and ethnic groups stratified by sex.

A multistate transition model of changes in loneliness and carer stress among community-dwelling older adults in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Objectives: To identify changes in loneliness and carer stress between two time points for older people of different ethnicities who had repeated interRAI home care assessments.

Methods: Participants consisted of community-dwelling older adults across New Zealand who received two interRAI-HC assessments between 5 July 2012 and 31 December 2019. Two multistate models were developed: the first model was not lonely versus lonely, and the second model was no carer stress versus carer stress.

Mortality risk among Autistic children and young people: A nationwide birth cohort study.

Existing literature indicates that Autistic people have shorter life expectancy, but little is known about the mortality risk among Autistic children and young people (0-24 years). We used a 15-year nationwide birth cohort study to estimate the mortality risk among Autistic children and young people in Aotearoa/New Zealand. The study included 895,707 children and 11,919 (1.

COVID-19 impact on overweight and obesity rates in Aotearoa | New Zealand 4-year-old children.

Background: COVID-19 has had profound societal impacts. This study estimated overweight, obesity, and extreme obesity rates in 4-year-old children over pre- and post-COVID-19 periods, and investigated differential changes between sex, ethnic and deprivation groups.

Methods: A national screening programme of 4-year-old children undertaking B4 School Checks (B4SCs) between 1 January 2010 and 7 March 2023 was analysed.

Multimorbidity associated with urinary incontinence among older women and men with complex needs in Aotearoa | New Zealand.

Aims: To investigate the association between multimorbidity and urinary incontinence (UI) among community living older adults with complex needs in sex-specific crude and adjusted analyses.

Methods: Since 2012 in Aotearoa | New Zealand (NZ) all community-living older people with complex needs who require publicly funded assistance undergo a comprehensive standardized geriatric needs assessment using the interRAI-HC instrument. Consenting adults aged ≥65 years who undertook this assessment between July 5, 2012 and December 31, 2020 were investigated.

In the COVID-19 pandemic, who did we trust? An eight-country cross-sectional study.

Background: Trust is a key determinant of health, but has been undermined by the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated infodemic. Using data from eight countries, we aimed to epidemiologically describe levels of trust in health, governments, news media organisations, and experts, and measure the impact of political orientation and COVID-19 information sources on participant's levels of trust.

Methods: We simultaneously conducted a stratified randomised online cross-sectional study across eight countries on adults aged ≥18 years between 6 and 18 November 2020.

Urban-rural disparity in body mass index: is dietary knowledge a mechanism? Evidence from the China Health and Nutrition Survey 2004-2015.

Background: The co-existence of undernutrition and overweight/obesity has been recognised as a severe challenge in China, with substantial urban-rural disparity. We evaluated short- and long-term associations of urban-rural locality on body mass index (BMI) in Chinese adults overall and stratified by sex, focusing on whether dietary knowledge plays a mediating role.

Methods: We used cross-sectional and longitudinal study designs with structural equation modelling based on the 2004 (T1) and 2015 (T2) waves of the China Health and Nutrition Survey.

Utility of Big Data to Explore Medication Adherence in Māori and Non-Māori Community-Dwelling Older Adults with Heart Failure in Aotearoa New Zealand: A Cross-sectional Study.

Background: Medication adherence improves morbidity and mortality-related outcomes in heart failure, and knowledge of patterns of medication adherence supports patient and clinician decision-making. Routinely collected national data facilitate the exploration of medication adherence and associated factors in older adults with heart failure, including the association between ethnicity and adherence. There are known inequities in access to medicines between Māori (Indigenous People of Aotearoa New Zealand) and non-Māori, yet ethnic variation in medicines adherence in community-dwelling older adults with heart failure has not been explored.

Relationship between perceived and measured body size among Pacific 14-year-olds in Aotearoa|New Zealand: Findings from the Pacific Islands Families Study.

Aim: Pacific people carry a disproportionate burden of socio-cultural and economic determinants of health in Aotearoa | New Zealand (NZ), and 61.7% of Pacific children aged 0-14 years are overweight or obese. Yet Pacific children's self-perception of their body size is unknown.

Examining the psychosocial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic: an international cross-sectional study protocol.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic exposed people to significant and prolonged stress. The psychosocial impacts of the pandemic have been well recognised and reported in high-income countries (HICs) but it is important to understand the unique challenges posed by COVID-19 in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where limited international comparisons have been undertaken. This protocol was therefore devised to study the psychosocial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in seven LMICs using scales that had been designed for or translated for this purpose.

Adolescents and oral health service utilization in Canterbury, New Zealand: A geospatial cross-sectional study.

Objective: Non-utilization of dental care during adolescence can result in poorer oral health and subsequently higher expenditures on dental services. This study examined the geospatial and epidemiological factors associated with utilization of the publicly funded Adolescent Oral Health Services (AOHS) in Canterbury, Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ).

Methods: A secondary analysis of prospectively collected routine data from AOHS visits of adolescents in school Year 9 (13-14 years) for the financial year 2019-2020.

Understanding the contextual and cultural influences on women's modern contraceptive use in East Uganda: A qualitative study.

Unmet need for contraception, defined as the percentage of women who are sexually active and want to avoid, space or limit pregnancies, but are not using a method of contraception, stands at 28.4% of all married women in Uganda. An understanding of women's contraceptive behaviours, and the motivations that drive these, are key to tackling unmet need, by way of designing, implementing and improving family planning programs to effectively meet the needs of different population groups.

The pattern of association between early childhood caries and body mass index in pre-school children within Aotearoa | New Zealand: a national cross-sectional study.

Objectives: The relationship between childhood anthropometric measurements and dental caries has an inconsistent evidence-base. This study investigated dental caries experience and body mass index (BMI) measurements of children aged 4 years in a national cohort, after accounting for key confounding variables.

Methods: A near whole-population cross-sectional study of children who had a health and developmental assessment, as part of the nationwide B4 School Check screening program, conducted in Aotearoa | New Zealand (ANZ) between 1 July 2010 and 30 June 2021 was studied.

Carer distress among community living older adults with complex needs in the pre- and post-COVID-19 era: a national population study.

Carer distress is one important negative impact of caregiving and likely exacerbated by the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, yet little population-based epidemiological information exists. Using national data from repeated standardized comprehensive geriatric needs assessments, this study aims to: describe the pattern of caregiver distress among those providing informal care to community-living adults aged ≥ 65 years with complex needs in New Zealand over time; estimate the COVID-19 effect on this temporal pattern; and, investigate relationships between participants' sociodemographic and selected health measures on caregiver distress. Fractional polynomial regression and multivariable multilevel mixed-effects models were employed.

Parents' education and Pasifika children's oral health in Aotearoa/New Zealand: A national linked data study using Aotearoa/New Zealand's integrated data infrastructure.

Objectives: A wide inequality in incidence and severity of childhood oral health conditions between Pasifika and non-Pasifika in Aotearoa/New Zealand (Aotearoa/NZ) persists with some evidence that the gap is widening. To develop an evidence base for strengths-based solutions, this study seeks to investigate the association between parental education and detected oral health conditions in Pasifika children.

Method: A secondary cross-sectional analysis of linked routinely collected national databases of children (Pasifika and Non-Māori non-Pasifika [NMNP]) aged 0-9 years in 2013 who completed a Before School Check (B4SC) and had their birth parents file a 2013 New Zealand census return.

An eight country cross-sectional study of the psychosocial effects of COVID-19 induced quarantine and/or isolation during the pandemic.

Forced quarantine and nationwide lockdowns have been a primary response by many jurisdictions in their attempt at COVID-19 elimination or containment, yet the associated mental health burden is not fully understood. Using an eight country cross-sectional design, this study investigates the association between COVID-19 induced quarantine and/or isolation on probable generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and major depressive episode (MDE) psychological outcomes approximately eight months after the pandemic was declared. Overall, 9027 adults participated, and 2937 (32.

Parental education related to their children's health in late childhood and early adolescence for Pacific families within New Zealand.

Pacific people continue to carry a disproportionately heavy social and health burden relative to their non-Pacific peers in New Zealand, and those with less formal education are experiencing social and health declines. Improving education and educational needs is seen as being central to decreasing these health inequities. While expansive, the empirical evidence-base supporting this stance is relatively weak and increasingly conflicting.