The Kessler Psychological Distress Scale in Australian adolescents: Analysis of the second Australian Child and Adolescent Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing.

Introduction: The 10-item Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) is used to screen adolescents for mental disorders in Australian clinical practice; however, there are no Australian adolescent normative data.

Methods: Data were drawn from a nationally representative sample ( = 2964) of Australian adolescents (11-17 years). This study had three aims: (1) to examine concurrent validity between the K10 and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) emotional symptoms subscale, (2) to establish normative Australian adolescent K10 data and (3) to determine optimal K10 cut-off scores for screening for major depressive disorder (MDD) via receiver operator characteristic curve analysis and stratum-specific likelihood ratios.

Potential Impacts of Extreme Heat and Bushfires on Dementia.

Australia often experiences natural disasters and extreme weather conditions such as: flooding, sandstorms, heatwaves, and bushfires (also known as wildfires or forest fires). The proportion of the Australian population aged 65 years and over is increasing, alongside the severity and frequency of extreme weather conditions and natural disasters. Extreme heat can affect the entire population but particularly at the extremes of life, and patients with morbidities.