Public health and prevention research within the Medical Research Future Fund.

Objective: To explore the amount and type of research funded under relevant Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Initiatives that addressed public health and prevention from 2018 to July 2023.

Methods: Projects funded by six MRFF Initiatives, with objectives relevant to public health and public health nominated as "field of research" by >25% of applicants, were evaluated against a set of public health research criteria and were categorised based on levels of prevention.

Results: Fifty-seven per cent of 249 funded projects were categorised as public health research.

Falls and patterns of physical activity participation over 18 years in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health.

Objective: To explore the relationship between long-term physical activity (PA) participation and falls.

Methods: Participants in the Australian Longitudinal Study of Women's Health born 1946-1951 self-reported amounts of PA every 3 years since 1998 (mean age: 54 years, n=11 796). Latent class analysis described profiles of self-reported PA participation over 18 years.

[Effect of socioeconomic status on life expectancy From the population to patients].

Life expectancy exists along a social gradient, where those with a high socioeconomic status (SES) live longer. The effect of SES can be explained via behavioral, material, and psychosocial pathways, which can be modified through social and public health policies. The behavioral pathway states that harmful health behaviors, like smoking, are more common among those of lower SES.

Leisure-Time Physical Activity and Falls With and Without Injuries Among Older Adult Women.

Importance: Falls and fall-related injuries are common among older adults. Older adults are recommended to undertake 150 to 300 minutes of physical activity per week for health benefits; however, the association between meeting the recommended level of physical activity and falls is unclear.

Objectives: To examine whether associations exist between leisure-time physical activity and noninjurious and injurious falls in older women.

Differences in Falls and Physical Activity in Older Women From Two Generations.

Background: Falls and physical inactivity increase with age. However, physical activity, falls and their associations in older people born at different times are unclear.

Methods: Women born 1921-26 and 1946-51 who completed follow-up questionnaires in 1999 (n = 8 403, mean (SD) age: 75 (1) years) and 2019 (n = 7 555; 71 (1) years) in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health.

Intra-generational social mobility and mortality among older men in the Concord Health and Ageing in Men Project: A cohort study.

Objectives: We examined associations between intra-generational social mobility (reflected in life-course socioeconomic trajectories) and mortality, among older men.

Methods: Data came from a prospective Australian community-based cohort of older men. Social mobility was defined by socioeconomic indicators from three points in the life-course: educational attainment (late adolescence-early adulthood), occupation (mid-life), and current sources of income (older age).

Overadjustment bias in systematic reviews and meta-analyses of socio-economic inequalities in health: a meta-research scoping review.

Background: Overadjustment bias occurs when researchers adjust for an explanatory variable on the causal pathway from exposure to outcome, which leads to biased estimates of the causal effect of the exposure. This meta-research review aimed to examine how previous systematic reviews and meta-analyses of socio-economic inequalities in health have managed overadjustment bias.

Methods: We searched Medline and Embase until 16 April 2021 for systematic reviews and meta-analyses of observational studies on associations between individual-level socio-economic position and health outcomes in any population.

Pain and its interference with daily living in relation to cancer: a comparative population-based study of 16,053 cancer survivors and 106,345 people without cancer.

Background: Pain is a common, debilitating, and feared symptom, including among cancer survivors. However, large-scale population-based evidence on pain and its impact in cancer survivors is limited. We quantified the prevalence of pain in community-dwelling people with and without cancer, and its relation to physical functioning, psychological distress, and quality of life (QoL).

Physical Activity Interventions for Adults Aged 60+ Years in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Scoping Review.

Background: Most reviews investigating physical activity interventions for older people consider evidence primarily from high-income countries. This review examined physical activity interventions for older people from low- and middle-income countries.

Methods: We searched 9 electronic databases to identify randomized controlled trials or quasi-randomized trials studies investigating physical activity interventions for people aged 60+ in low- and middle-income countries.

Fall-related health service use in Stepping On programme participants and matched controls: a non-randomised observational trial within the 45 and Up Study.

Background: Falls and fall-related health service use among older adults continue to increase. The New South Wales Health Department, Australia, is delivering the Stepping On fall prevention programme at scale. We compared fall-related health service use in Stepping On participants and matched controls.

Description of Ultra-Processed Food Intake in a Swiss Population-Based Sample of Adults Aged 18 to 75 Years.

Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are associated with lower diet quality and several non-communicable diseases. Their consumption varies between countries/regions of the world. We aimed to describe the consumption of UPFs in adults aged 18−75 years living in Switzerland.

Assessing How Social Exposures Are Integrated in Exposome Research: A Scoping Review.

Background: Exposome research aims to describe and understand the extent to which all the exposures in human environments may affect our health over the lifetime. However, the way in which humans interact with their environment is socially patterned. Failing to account for social factors in research exploring the exposome may underestimate the magnitude of the effect of exposures or mask inequalities in the distribution of both exposures and outcomes.

Healthy dietary indices and noncancer pain: a systematic review of cross-sectional and longitudinal studies.

Pain is a global public health problem given its high prevalence and incidence, long duration, and social and economic impact. There is growing interest in nutrition as potential modifiable risk factor related to pain; however, the associations between healthy dietary patterns and pain have not yet been well established. Thus, we aimed to systematically review and synthesise current cross-sectional and longitudinal evidence on the relationship between a priori healthy dietary patterns and noncancer pain among adults aged ≥18 years.

Causal and Associational Language in Observational Health Research: A Systematic Evaluation.

We estimated the degree to which language used in the high-profile medical/public health/epidemiology literature implied causality using language linking exposures to outcomes and action recommendations; examined disconnects between language and recommendations; identified the most common linking phrases; and estimated how strongly linking phrases imply causality. We searched for and screened 1,170 articles from 18 high-profile journals (65 per journal) published from 2010-2019. Based on written framing and systematic guidance, 3 reviewers rated the degree of causality implied in abstracts and full text for exposure/outcome linking language and action recommendations.

Avoiding overadjustment bias in social epidemiology through appropriate covariate selection: a primer.

Obtaining accurate estimates of the causal effects of socioeconomic position (SEP) on health is important for public health interventions. To do this, researchers must identify and adjust for all potential confounding variables, while avoiding inappropriate adjustment for mediator variables on a causal pathway between the exposure and outcome. Unfortunately, 'overadjustment bias' remains a common and under-recognized problem in social epidemiology.

Mixed Evidence of an Association between Self-Rated Hearing Difficulties and Falls: Prospective Analysis of Two Longitudinal Studies.

Introduction: This study aimed to assess the extent to which a single item of self-reported hearing difficulties is associated with future risk of falling among community-dwelling older adults.

Methods: We used data from two Australian population-based cohorts: three waves from the PATH Through Life study (PATH; n = 2,048, 51% men, age 66.5 ± 1.

Socioeconomic Inequalities in Elective and Nonelective Hospitalizations in Older Men.

Importance: Among older adults, there is limited and inconsistent evidence on the association between socioeconomic position (SEP) and elective and nonelective hospitalization.

Objective: To evaluate the association between SEP and all-cause and cause-specific elective and nonelective hospitalization and hospital length of stay among older men.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This population-based, prospective cohort study used data from the Concord Health and Aging in Men Project (CHAMP).