A mixed-methods evaluation of a dementia education program for hospital staff and volunteers in Melbourne, Australia.

People with dementia have a high likelihood of being hospitalized at some point during the disease process. Recent research has found that more can be done to improve dementia care in hospitals. One of the strategies suggested to help achieve this objective is to provide dementia education programs to hospital staff.

The assessment of dietary carotenoid intake of the Cardio-Med FFQ using food records and biomarkers in an Australian cardiology cohort: a pilot validation.

Dietary carotenoids are associated with lower risk of CHD. Assessment of dietary carotenoid intake using questionnaires can be susceptible to measurement error. Consequently, there is a need to validate data collected from FFQs which measure carotenoid intake.

Circumstances that promote social connectedness in older adults participating in intergenerational programmes with adolescents: a realist review.

Objectives: Limited social connectedness in older adults is a risk factor for poor physical and mental health. Older adults who are socially isolated, lonely and disconnected have a higher risk of chronic illness, depression and premature death. Current literature suggests that improved social connectedness reduces these risks.

Pandemic policing and the construction of publics: an analysis of COVID-19 lockdowns in public housing.

COVID-19 responses have cast a spotlight on the uneven impacts of public health policy with particular populations or sites targeted for intervention. Perhaps the starkest example in Australia was the 'hard' lockdown of nine public housing complexes in inner-city Melbourne from 4 to 18 July 2020, where residents were fully confined to their homes. These complexes are home to diverse migrant communities and the lockdown drew public criticism for unfairly stigmatising ethnic minorities.

Estimates of age specific death rates in people with diabetes and associated multimorbidity using Australian administrative pharmaceutical data.

Introduction: Estimating the mortality risk of persons with diabetes can be challenging. Associated conditions such as cardiovascular disease can become the primary cause of mortality and the underlying contribution of diabetes not recorded. Alternative methods to assess mortality risk in people with diabetes would be useful.

Estimates of drug treated diabetes incidence and prevalence using Australian administrative pharmaceutical data.

Introduction: The incidence and prevalence of diabetes within a population are important public health metrics. Pharmaceutical administrative data may offer a resource that can contribute to quantifying these measures using the recorded signals derived from the drugs used to treat people with diabetes.

Objective: To estimate the longitudinal incidence and prevalence of drug treated (DT) diabetes in Australia utilising an Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) dataset and compare estimates with community survey data for all diabetes reported in the Australian National Health Survey (NHS).

A comparison of Australian chronic disease prevalence estimates using administrative pharmaceutical dispensing data with international and community survey data.

Introduction: Chronic disease (CD) is a leading cause of population mortality, illness and disability. Identification of CD using administrative data is increasingly used and may have utility in monitoring population health. Pharmaceutical administrative data using World Health Organization, Anatomic Therapeutic Chemical Codification (ATC) assigned to prescribed medicines may offer an improved method to define persons with certain CD and enable the calculation of population prevalence.

Prevalence and sociodemographic factors of risky drinking in Australian older adults.

Introduction And Aims: This study describes the prevalence of risky drinking in older adults (aged 60+ years) in Australia and explores the socioeconomic and lifestyle factors associated with this. The negative consequences of drinking behaviours in older adults were also explored.

Design And Methods: Cross-sectional design, with data obtained from the Australian 2016 National Drug Strategy Household Survey, yielding a sample size of 7976 participants.

The Cardio-Med survey tool: development and pilot validation of a FFQ in a multicultural cardiology cohort.

Objective: (i) Describe the development of a multipurpose Cardio-Med survey tool (CMST) comprising a semi-quantitative FFQ designed to measure dietary intake in multicultural patients with or at high risk of CVD and (ii) report pilot evaluation of test-retest reliability and validity of the FFQ in measuring energy and nutrient intakes.

Design: The CMST was developed to identify CVD risk factors and assess diet quality over 1 year using an FFQ. Design of the ninety-three-item FFQ involved developing food portion photographs, and a list of foods appropriate for the Australian multicultural population allowing the capture of adherence to a Mediterranean diet pattern.

Coverage of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nutrition in the Koori Mail.

Objective: To examine the extent and nature of coverage of nutrition in the Koori Mail.

Methods: Content and framing analysis were used to examine articles in the Koori Mail published between 2013 and 2017 that included the terms 'nutrition∗', 'diet∗', 'food', 'eating', 'weight', 'tucker' or 'sugary drinks'. The analysis focused on the portrayal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people/communities, inclusion of First Peoples' voices and the framing of nutrition issues.

Long-term survival following successful abdominal aortic aneurysm repair evaluated using Australian administrative data.

Background: Long-term survival (LTS) following abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) surgery is an outcome that can compare open surgical repair (OSR) and endovascular AAA repair (EVAR) methods. We examined the LTS of persons following successful AAA repair using administrative health data covering the Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits and Medicare Benefits Schemes from 1993 to 2014.

Methods: Participants undergoing AAA surgery were identified using procedure codes and the last service provision date used as a proxy mortality marker.

The Impact of a School-Based Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Intervention on Knowledge, Practices, and Diarrhoea Rates in the Philippines.

A school-based water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) intervention in the Philippines was evaluated. Students and households from four schools that received the WASH intervention (intervention schools) were compared with four schools that had not (comparison schools). Knowledge of critical handwashing times was high across all schools, but higher in intervention schools.

Anatomy of a demand shock: Quantitative analysis of crowding in hospital emergency departments in Victoria, Australia during the 2009 influenza pandemic.

Objective: An infectious disease outbreak such as the 2009 influenza pandemic is an unexpected demand shock to hospital emergency departments (EDs). We analysed changes in key performance metrics in (EDs) in Victoria during this pandemic to assess the impact of this demand shock.

Design And Setting: Descriptive time-series analysis and longitudinal regression analysis of data from the Victorian Emergency Minimum Dataset (VEMD) using data from the 38 EDs that submit data to the state's Department of Health and Human Services.

Cervical re-explorations and proxy survival following parathyroidectomy for primary hyperparathyroidism using Australian administrative data.

Background: Administrative data may have utility in the impartial assessment of surgical outcomes and rare events. We have used a publicly available sample of the Australian pharmaceutical and health service provision (medical benefits scheme) databases to assess outcomes following parathyroidectomy for primary hyperparathyroidism (PHP).

Methods: A cohort study using linked pharmaceutical and medical benefits schemes data was performed covering the period 1993-2014.

Description of social contacts among student cases of pandemic influenza during the containment phase, Melbourne, Australia, 2009.

Introduction: Students comprised the majority of early cases of influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 in Melbourne, Australia. Students and school settings were targeted for public health interventions following the emergence of pH1N1. This study was conducted to describe changes in social contacts among the earliest confirmed student cases of pH1N1 in Melbourne, Australia, to inform future pandemic control policy and explore transmission model assumptions.

Intimate-partner violence and reproductive decision-making by women attending Victorian Maternal- and Child-Health services: a cross-sectional study.

The reproductive years are a critical period where women experience greater risk of intimate-partner violence (IPV). Most studies investigating the association between IPV and reproductive health have been completed in low- and middle-income countries. This study aimed to examine the relationship between IPV and women's reproductive decision-making in Victoria, Australia.

Partner violence and postnatal mental health: cross-sectional analysis of factors associated with depression and anxiety in new mothers.

Intimate-partner violence and poor mental health are common, harmful issues for women of childbearing age. Although the prevalence and correlates of postpartum depression are well established, far less is known about postpartum anxiety. We aimed to investigate the association between postnatal depression and anxiety, and intimate-partner violence among women attending Victorian Maternal and Child Health services, using data from a randomised control trial: Improving Maternal and Child Health care for Vulnerable Mothers (MOVE).

The AUStralian MEDiterranean Diet Heart Trial (AUSMED Heart Trial): A randomized clinical trial in secondary prevention of coronary heart disease in a multiethnic Australian population: Study protocol.

The Mediterranean diet was first characterized as a heart-protective diet in the 1960s. The significant cardioprotective effects of the Mediterranean diet in comparison to the standard-care low-fat diet have been established in the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD); however, there is insufficient evidence in secondary prevention research to influence the current standard of care. Opportunity exists to assess the Mediterranean diet as a therapeutic target for secondary CVD prevention within Australia's ethnoculturally diverse communities.

How effective are family-based and institutional nutrition interventions in improving children's diet and health? A systematic review.

Background: Effective strategies to improve dietary intake in young children are a priority to reduce the high prevalence of chronic non-communicable diseases in adulthood. This study aimed to assess the impact of family-based and school/preschool nutrition programs on the health of children aged 12 or younger, including the sustainability of these impacts and the relevance to socio-economic inequalities.

Methods: A systematic review of literature published from 1980 to December 2014 was undertaken.

Perinatal and social factors predicting caesarean birth in a 2004 Australian birth cohort.

Background: The proportion of babies born by caesarean section in Australia has almost doubled over the last 25 years. Factors known to contribute to caesarean such as higher maternal age, mothers being overweight or obese, or having had a previous caesarean do not completely account for the increased rate and it is clear that other influences exist.

Aim: To identify previously unsuspected risk factors associated with caesarean using nationally-representative data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children.

Testing for chlamydial infection: are we meeting clinical guidelines? Evidence from a state-level laboratory data linkage analysis for 15- to 29-year-olds.

Unlabelled: Background Clinical guidelines recommend annual chlamydia tests for all sexually active people aged 15-29 years. This study measured adherence to these guidelines and compared testing rates to the projected levels required to reduce chlamydia prevalence.

Methods: All chlamydia tests conducted in Tasmania during 2012-13, for residents aged 15-29 years, were linked.