Recommendations for developing accessible patient information leaflets for clinical trials to address English language literacy as a barrier to research participation.

Background: Low English language literacy is a common barrier to participation in clinical trials. Patient information leaflets (PILs) used in clinical trials are often lengthy, complex and have poor readability; this is a persistent and prevalent problem common to trials across the world. Simplifying the information provided in PILs can lead to improved understanding, comprehension and knowledge.

Fat Mass Is Associated with Foot Pain in Men: The Geelong Osteoporosis Study.

Objective: Foot pain is a common complaint in adults. Evidence suggests that body composition is involved in the development of foot pain. However, whether this is the case in men remains unclear because previous studies mainly examined women.

Psychiatric disorders, psychotropic medication use and falls among women: an observational study.

Background: Psychotropic agents known to cause sedation are associated with an increased risk of falls, but the role of psychiatric illness as an independent risk factor for falls is not clear. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the association between psychiatric disorders, psychotropic medication use and falls risk.

Methods: This study examined data collected from 1062 women aged 20-93 yr (median 50 yr) participating in the Geelong Osteoporosis Study, a large, ongoing, population-based study.

Knowledge change regarding osteoporosis prevention: translating recommended guidelines into user-friendly messages within a community forum.

Background: Osteoporosis is a skeletal disorder characterised by low bone mineral density and increased fracture risk. Nationally the total costs of this chronic disease are currently estimated at $2.754 billion annually.

FRAX (Aus) and falls risk: Association in men and women.

Purpose: The WHO fracture risk prediction tool (FRAX®) utilises clinical risk factors to estimate the probability of fracture over a 10-year period. Although falls increase fracture risk, they have not been incorporated into FRAX. It is currently unclear if FRAX captures falls risk and whether addition of falls would improve fracture prediction.

Age- and sex-related patterns of first fracture and fracture prevalence.

There are few data documenting the pattern of prevalent fracture across the entire adult age range, so we aimed to address this gap by investigating the prevalence of fractures in an Australian cohort. All-cause (ever) fractures were identified for males and females enrolled in the Geelong Osteoporosis Study (Australia) using a combination of radiology-confirmed and self-reported data. First fractures were used to generate age-related frequencies of individuals who had ever sustained a fracture.

Excessive daytime sleepiness and metabolic syndrome: a cross-sectional study.

Objective: Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) has been associated with singular independent symptoms of metabolic syndrome, such as insulin resistance and diabetes. The aim of this study was to assess whether this relationship is sustained among individuals who meet criteria for the whole syndrome.

Materials/methods: 994 Women aged 21-94 years (median 50.

Excessive daytime sleepiness and body composition: a population-based study of adults.

Background: Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) is often associated with increased adiposity, particularly when assessed in the context of samples of sleep-disordered patients; however, it is unclear if this relationship is sustained among non-clinical, population-based cohorts. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between EDS and a number of body composition markers among a population-based sample of men and women.

Methods: This study assessed 1066 women aged 21-94 yr (median = 51 yr, IQR 35-66), and 911 men aged 24-92 yr (median = 60 yr, IQR 46-73) who participated in the Geelong Osteoporosis Study (GOS) between the years 2001 and 2008.

Associations between socioeconomic status and primary total knee joint replacements performed for osteoarthritis across Australia 2003-10: data from the Australian Orthopaedic Association National Joint Replacement Registry.

Background: Relatively little is known about the social distribution of total knee joint replacement (TKR) uptake in Australia. We examine associations between socioeconomic status (SES) and TKR performed for diagnosed osteoarthritis 2003-10 for all Australian males and females aged ≥ 30 yr.

Methods: Data of primary TKR (n=213,018, 57.

Personality disorders and physical comorbidities in adults from the United States: data from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions.

Purpose: There is a paucity of research examining the relationship between personality disorders (PDs) and chronic physical comorbidities. Consequently, we investigated associations between individual PDs and PD Clusters, and various common disease groups [cardiovascular disease (CVD), diabetes, arthritis and gastrointestinal disease (GI)] in a nationally representative survey of adults from the United States.

Methods: This study utilized pooled data (n = 34,653; ≥20 years) from Waves 1 and 2 of the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions.

Who are the older Australians referred for a bone density scan? Data from the Barwon region.

Unlabelled: We investigated the reasons for referral of older Australians aged 70 years and older to dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). The most common clinical indication was being aged 70 years and older, followed by monitoring for fracture or low bone mineral density (BMD). Compared to males, females were twice as likely to have osteoporotic BMD.

Relationship between diet and mental health in children and adolescents: a systematic review.

We systematically reviewed 12 epidemiological studies to determine whether an association exists between diet quality and patterns and mental health in children and adolescents; 9 explored the relationship using diet as the exposure, and 3 used mental health as the exposure. We found evidence of a significant, cross-sectional relationship between unhealthy dietary patterns and poorer mental health in children and adolescents. We observed a consistent trend for the relationship between good-quality diet and better mental health and some evidence for the reverse.

Shining the light on Sunshine: a systematic review of the influence of sun exposure on type 2 diabetes mellitus-related outcomes.

Prospective observational studies uniformly link vitamin D deficiency with the incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), yet trials supplementing participants at risk of T2DM with vitamin D to reduce progression to T2DM have yielded inconsistent results. Inconsistencies between supplementation trials may be due to insufficient dosing or small sample sizes. Observational studies may also have reported spurious associations due to uncontrolled confounding by lifestyle or genetic factors.

Poor agreement between self-reported diagnosis and bone mineral density results in the identification of osteoporosis.

Osteoporosis is a major health concern, estimated to affect millions worldwide. Bone mineral density (BMD) assessment is not practical for many large-scale epidemiological studies resulting in the reliance of self-report methods to ascertain diagnostic information. The aim of the study was to assess the validity of self-reported diagnosis of osteoporosis in a population-based study.

Depression following fracture in women: a study of age-matched cohorts.

Objectives: High levels of disability, functional impairment and mortality are independently associated with fracture and depression, however the relationship between fracture and depression is uncertain. The aim of this study was to investigate whether fracture is associated with subsequent depressive symptoms in a population-based sample of women.

Design: A study of age-matched fracture versus non-fracture cohorts of women.

Prevalence of excessive daytime sleepiness in a sample of the Australian adult population.

Objectives: Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) is associated with significant personal and medical burden. However, there is little indication of the impact of these symptoms in the broader population.

Participants And Methods: We studied 946 men ages 24-92 years (median age, 59.

Comparison of self-report and structured clinical interview in the identification of depression.

Background: A self-report method seeking a binary response for assessing depression is a cost-effective and time-efficient way to obtain a psychiatric history, yet the reliability of this method is largely unknown. The aim of the study was to compare and assess the validity of two methods for identifying a past history of depression in a population-based study.

Methods: This study examined data collected from 891 men and 1086 women participating in the Geelong Osteoporosis Study.

Rheumatoid arthritis and incident fracture in women: a case-control study.

Background: To examine fracture incidence in women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) for an entire geographical region of south-eastern Australia.

Methods: Women aged 35 years and older, resident in the Barwon Statistical Division (BSD) and clinically diagnosed with RA 1994-2001 were eligible for inclusion as cases (n = 1,008). The control population (n = 172,422) comprised the entire female BSD population aged 35 years and older, excluding those individuals identified as cases.

Total and appendicular lean mass reference ranges for Australian men and women: the Geelong osteoporosis study.

The aim of this study was to develop reference ranges for total and appendicular lean mass measured using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) from a randomly selected population-based sample of men and women residing in southeastern Australia. Men (n = 1,411) and women (n = 960) aged 20-93 years, enrolled in the Geelong Osteoporosis Study, were randomly selected from the Barwon Statistical Division using the electoral roll as a sampling frame in 2001-2006 (67 % participation) and 1993-1997 (77 % participation), respectively. Using DXA (Lunar DPX-L or Prodigy Pro) at baseline for men and at the 10-year follow-up for women (2004-2008), total and appendicular lean mass were measured.

Body mass index and measures of body fat for defining obesity and underweight: a cross-sectional, population-based study.

Background: The body mass index (BMI) is commonly used as a surrogate marker for adiposity. However, the BMI indicates weight-for-height without considering differences in body composition and the contribution of body fat to overall body weight. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to identify sex-and-age-specific values for percentage body fat (%BF), measured using whole body dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA), that correspond to BMI 18.

The association between diet quality, dietary patterns and depression in adults: a systematic review.

Background: Recent evidence suggests that diet modifies key biological factors associated with the development of depression; however, associations between diet quality and depression are not fully understood. We performed a systematic review to evaluate existing evidence regarding the association between diet quality and depression.

Method: A computer-aided literature search was conducted using Medline, CINAHL, and PsycINFO, January 1965 to October 2011, and a best-evidence analysis performed.

Alcohol consumption and body composition in a population-based sample of elderly Australian men.

Background: Alcohol is calorie dense, and impacts activity, appetite and lipid processing. The aim of this study was to therefore investigate the association between alcohol consumption and components of body composition including bone, fat and lean tissue.

Methods: Participants were recruited from a randomly selected, population-based sample of 534 men aged 65 years and older enrolled in the Geelong Osteoporosis Study.

Socioeconomic status and quality of life in population-based Australian men: data from the Geelong Osteoporosis Study.

Objective: To investigate the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and reported perceptions of quality of life (QOL) in a cross-sectional population-based analysis of a representative sample of Australian men.

Methods: In 917 randomly recruited men aged 24-92 years, we measured QoL in the domains of physical health, psychological health, environment and social relationships, using the Australian World Health Organization Quality of Life Instrument (WHOQOL-BREF). Residential addresses were cross-referenced with Australian Bureau of Statistics 2006 census data to ascertain SES.