Evidence for the effectiveness of a chlamydia awareness campaign: increased population rates of chlamydia testing and detection.

The objective of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a statewide campaign aimed at increasing chlamydia awareness and testing among younger people. In November 2002, a narrowcast media campaign targeting men and women aged 16-29 years was launched in Victoria, Australia. This was expanded in June 2003.

Evaluation of a prison-based hepatitis B immunisation pilot project.

This paper describes the evaluation findings of a hepatitis B immunisation pilot project, which aimed to increase the uptake and compliance of hepatitis B vaccinations among female prisoners in Victoria. The evaluation used a mixed methods approach including in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and an analysis of quantitative data. Fifty-five per cent of potential participants (391/712) were offered hepatitis B immunisation.

Invasive pneumococcal disease in Victoria: a better measurement of the true incidence.

Invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) notifications are used to monitor IPD vaccination programmes. We conducted sequential deterministic data-linkage between IPD notifications and hospitalization data in Victoria, Australia, in order to determine whether all diagnosed cases were being reported. The proportion of each relevant hospital admission ICD-10-AM code that could be linked to notified cases was calculated.

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.

A comparison of data sources for the surveillance of seasonal and pandemic influenza in Victoria.

Understanding the characteristics of available influenza or influenza-like illness (ILI) surveillance systems is important for seasonal influenza surveillance and pandemic preparedness. We compared five influenza or ILI data sources in Victoria: notifications of laboratory-confirmed influenza to the Victorian Department of Human Services; hospital emergency presentations and hospital admissions; sentinel general practitioner surveillance; and medical locum service surveillance. Seasonal trends for influenza and ILI activity were similar for all data sources.

Quality of diagnosis and procedure coding in ICD-10 administrative data.

Objectives: The International Classification of Disease, 10th Revision (ICD-10) was introduced worldwide beginning in the late 1990s. Because there have been no published data on the quality of coding using ICD-10, the aim of our analysis is to assess the quality of ICD-10 coding in routinely collected hospital discharge data from Australia, which began using ICD-10 in 1998.

Methods: Audit data from the years 1998-1999 (n = 7004) and 2000-2001 (n = 7631), excluding same-day chemotherapy and dialysis cases, were used in data analysis.

Increased case fatality rates following a first acute cardiovascular event in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Objective: Among patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), cardiovascular mortality is increased compared with the rate among unaffected peers. In this study, 30-day mortality rates following a first acute cardiovascular event (myocardial infarction or stroke) were compared between RA patients and the general population.

Methods: All cases of a first acute cardiovascular event between July 1, 2001 and November 30, 2003 in Victoria, Australia were identified from hospital discharge data.

Identifying priorities in methodological research using ICD-9-CM and ICD-10 administrative data: report from an international consortium.

Background: Health administrative data are frequently used for health services and population health research. Comparative research using these data has been facilitated by the use of a standard system for coding diagnoses, the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). Research using the data must deal with data quality and validity limitations which arise because the data are not created for research purposes.

The microbiology and outcome of sepsis in Victoria, Australia.

We analysed data from 33741 patients with ICD-10-AM-defined sepsis from an Australian hospital morbidity dataset to investigate the relationships between specific types of organisms, potential risk factors for infection, organ dysfunction, ICU utilization and hospital mortality. A total of 24% of patients received some of their care in an intensive care unit, and the overall hospital mortality rate was 18%. Gram-positive bacteria were isolated in 27% of cases and Gram-negative bacteria in 20%.

Coding algorithms for defining comorbidities in ICD-9-CM and ICD-10 administrative data.

Objectives: Implementation of the International Statistical Classification of Disease and Related Health Problems, 10th Revision (ICD-10) coding system presents challenges for using administrative data. Recognizing this, we conducted a multistep process to develop ICD-10 coding algorithms to define Charlson and Elixhauser comorbidities in administrative data and assess the performance of the resulting algorithms.

Methods: ICD-10 coding algorithms were developed by "translation" of the ICD-9-CM codes constituting Deyo's (for Charlson comorbidities) and Elixhauser's coding algorithms and by physicians' assessment of the face-validity of selected ICD-10 codes.

Effect of an on-site emergency physician in a rural emergency department at night.

Introduction: The problem of emergency department (ED) overcrowding is an issue of some concern and staffing profile has been identified as a contributing factor. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of having an emergency physician on-site at night in a rural base hospital ED in terms of the ED length of stay, waiting times, admissions, specialist consultations, the use of diagnostic tests, and ED representations within 7 days.

Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed of the ED database at Tamworth Base Hospital in rural New South Wales, Australia.

Readmission patterns in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic heart failure and diabetes mellitus: an administrative dataset analysis.

Comprehensive disease management programmes for chronic disease aim to improve patient outcomes and reduce health-care utilization. Readmission rates are often used as an outcome measure of effectiveness. This study aimed to document readmission rates, and risk for early and late readmission, for patients discharged from the Royal Melbourne Hospital with a disease diagnosis of chronic heart failure (CHF), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or diabetes mellitus compared to those with other general medical conditions.

On combining multiple microarray studies for improved functional classification by whole-dataset feature selection.

As microarray technologies become routinely applied in genome laboratories for studying gene expression, it is not uncommon that experiments on identical or similar sets of genes are conducted by multiple laboratories for various functional studies of these genes. Much of such data are often available to researchers for their data analysis, either through collaborators or from online gene expression databases. It will be useful to combine data from different microarray studies to improve the microarray data mining results.

Epidemiology of sepsis in Victoria, Australia.

Objective: To determine the clinical and epidemiologic characteristics of patients with sepsis admitted to hospitals in Victoria, Australia, including the incidence of sepsis and severe sepsis, utilization of intensive care unit (ICU) resources, and hospital mortality.

Design: A population-based hospital morbidity database generated from hospital discharge coding.

Setting: State of Victoria, Australia (population, 4.

New ICD-10 version of the Charlson comorbidity index predicted in-hospital mortality.

Background And Objective: The ICD-9-CM adaptation of the Charlson comorbidity score has been a valuable resource for health services researchers. With the transition into ICD-10 coding worldwide, an ICD-10 version of the Deyo adaptation was developed and validated using population-based hospital data from Victoria, Australia.

Methods: The algorithm was translated from ICD-9-CM into ICD-10-AM (Australian modification) in a multistep process.

Effects of increased private health insurance on hospital utilisation in Victoria.

The proportion of Victorians and Australians generally with private health insurance (PHI) increased from 31% in 1998 to 45% in 2001. We analysed a dataset containing all hospital separations throughout Victoria to determine whether changes in the level of private health insurance have had any impact on patterns of public and private hospital utilisation in Victoria. Total utilisation of private hospitals grew by 31% from 1998-99 to 2002-03, whereas utilisation of public hospitals increased by 18%.

The effect of increased private health insurance coverage on Victorian public hospitals.

It was anticipated that the recent reforms to private health insurance arrangements would reduce the demand pressures on Australian public hospitals. However, this has not been demonstrated by trends in elective surgery waiting lists in Victorian public hospitals. Moreover, it appears that the increased caseload assumed by Victorian private hospitals since the reforms took effect mainly reflects an increase in low cost same day episodes.

Effectiveness of platinum-based chemotherapy among elderly patients with advanced ovarian cancer.

Background: Platinum-based chemotherapy is the standard of care for women with advanced ovarian cancer based on the results of randomized trials. We previously showed that only about half of women over the age of 65 years with this disease received platinum-based chemotherapy, and that the likelihood of receiving it decreases with age.

Methods: We used the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)-Medicare database to identify women diagnosed from 1/1/92 to 12/31/96 with stage III or IV ovarian cancer who survived > or =120 days beyond diagnosis, and were > or =65 years of age.

Ethnic and cultural determinants influence risk assessment for hepatitis C acquisition.

Background And Aim: In the developed world hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is predominantly associated with sharing contaminated equipment between injecting drug users (IDU). In developing countries inadequately sterilized medical equipment, transmission of infected blood and cultural practices have been implicated. Accurate risk factor assessment is essential for education targeted at risk reduction in culturally diverse populations.

Attendance rates and outcomes of cardiac rehabilitation in Victoria, 1998.

Objective: To describe the patterns of use of cardiac rehabilitation in Victoria and to assess whether the survival benefits predicted in clinical trials have been realised in the community.

Design: Cohort study based on data linkage.

Participants: All patients admitted for acute myocardial infarction (AMI), coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) or percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) in Victoria in 1998 (n = 12821).

Management of colorectal cancer in elderly patients: focus on the cost of chemotherapy.

The treatment of colorectal cancer has evolved dramatically over the last 15 years. Advances in surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy have enabled oncologists to cure more patients and offer improved quality of life to patients not amenable to cure. Specific knowledge of colorectal cancer care of the elderly, while lagging behind the treatment of younger patients, is beginning to emerge.

Patterns and outcomes of chemotherapy for elderly patients with stage II ovarian cancer: a population-based study.

Background: The optimal treatment for patients with stage II ovarian cancer is controversial, although most experts recommend adjuvant chemotherapy. The purpose of this study was to assess the patterns of use of chemotherapy in women with stage II ovarian cancer, and to compare the survival of treated and untreated patients aged 65+ years in a population-based sample.

Methods: Using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)-Medicare database of cancers diagnosed in approximately 14% of the U.

Ultra-stable nanoparticles of CdSe revealed from mass spectrometry.

Nanoparticles under a few nanometres in size have structures and material functions that differ from the bulk because of their distinct geometrical shapes and strong quantum confinement. These qualities could lead to unique device applications. Our mass spectral analysis of CdSe nanoparticles reveals that (CdSe)(33) and (CdSe)(34) are extremely stable: with a simple solution method, they grow in preference to any other chemical compositions to produce macroscopic quantities.

Accuracy of the Australian National Death Index: comparison with adjudicated fatal outcomes among Australian participants in the Long-term Intervention with Pravastatin in Ischaemic Disease (LIPID) study.

Objective: To assess the accuracy of the Australian National Death Index (NDI) in identifying deaths and recording cardiovascular and cancer causes of death.

Methods: Adjudicated mortality data from Australian participants in the Long-term Intervention with Pravastatin in Ischaemic Disease (LIPID) study up until September 1999 were used as reference. Nine hundred and eighty deceased subjects and 4,841 surviving subjects were matched to the NDI by name, date of birth, date of death and postcode.