The Assessment of Services Promoting Independence and Recovery in Elders Trial (ASPIRE): a pre-planned meta-analysis of three independent randomised controlled trial evaluations of ageing in place initiatives in New Zealand.

Introduction: intermediate care has been developed to support older people to remain living in their own homes, combining a higher level of support with a rehabilitation focus. Evidence around their effectiveness remains mixed and there is ambiguity around the components.

Aims: to establish the impact of intermediate care on institutional free survival in frail older people referred for needs assessment in New Zealand (NZ).

Should care managers for older adults be located in primary care? A randomized controlled trial.

Objectives: To determine the effect of a primary care-based care management initiative on residential care placement and death in a population of frail older adults referred for needs assessment in New Zealand.

Design: Randomized controlled trial with follow-up at 3, 6, 12, 18, and 24 months for residential care placement and mortality.

Setting: Fifty-five family physician practices in New Zealand that established a care management initiative for older adults assessed as being at high risk of residential care placement in 2004 to 2006.

Elevated total cholesterol: its prevalence and population attributable fraction for mortality from coronary heart disease and ischaemic stroke in the Asia-Pacific region.

Background: About half of the world's cases of cardiovascular disease occur in the Asia-Pacific region. The contribution of serum total cholesterol (TC) to this burden is poorly quantified.

Design: The most recent nationally representative data on TC distributions for countries in the region were sought.