The Framingham and UK Prospective Diabetes Study (UKPDS) risk equations do not reliably estimate the probability of cardiovascular events in a large ethnically diverse sample of patients with diabetes: the Action in Diabetes and Vascular Disease: Preterax and Diamicron-MR Controlled Evaluation (ADVANCE) Study.

Aims/hypothesis: Available multivariable equations for cardiovascular risk assessment in people with diabetes have been derived either from the general population or from populations with diabetes. Their utility and comparative performance in a contemporary group of patients with type 2 diabetes are not well established. The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of the Framingham and UK Prospective Diabetes Study (UKPDS) risk equations in participants who took part in the Action in Diabetes and Vascular disease: Preterax and Diamicron-MR Controlled Evaluation (ADVANCE) trial.

Road crash trends for young drivers in New South Wales, Australia, from 1997 to 2007.

Objectives: The objective of this article was to explore overall crash and injury trends over the past decade for young drivers residing in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, including gender and age disparities.

Methods: Passenger vehicle crashes for drivers aged 17-25 occurring during 1997-2007 were extracted from the state crash database to calculate crash rates (per licensed driver). Generalized linear models were used to examine crash trends over time by severity of driver injury, adjusting for age, gender, rurality of residence, and socioeconomic status.

Low back pain and best practice care: A survey of general practice physicians.

Background: Acute low back pain (LBP) is primarily managed in general practice. We aimed to describe the usual care provided by general practitioners (GPs) and to compare this with recommendations of best practice in international evidence-based guidelines for the management of acute LBP.

Methods: Care provided in 3533 patient visits to GPs for a new episode of LBP was mapped to key recommendations in treatment guidelines.

Comparison of the prevalence and mortality risk of CKD in Australia using the CKD Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-EPI) and Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) Study GFR estimating equations: the AusDiab (Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle) Study.

Background: The Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-EPI) is more accurate than the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) Study equation. We applied both equations in a cohort representative of the Australian adult population.

Study Design: Population-based cohort study.

Effectiveness of blood pressure lowering: evidence-based comparisons between men and women.

The global burden of blood pressure-related disease is escalating faster among women than among men and, in recent years, age-adjusted mortality rates among women have actually increased. This has led to the speculation that there might be major sex-specific differences in the effectiveness of preventive therapies such as blood pressure-lowering drugs. However, large overviews of both observational and clinical trial data provide strong evidence that the protection against serious vascular events afforded by blood pressure reduction using a range of commonly used drugs is comparable for men and women.

Variation in the frequency of intracerebral haemorrhage and ischaemic stroke in China: a national, multicentre, hospital register study.

Background: Intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH) accounts for about one third of all strokes in China, a proportion that is three times higher than in Western populations. We aimed to determine the frequency distribution of ICH in China.

Methods: Using the ChinaQUEST hospital register database, the proportional frequency of ICH was determined by region and city location.

The effectiveness of the McKenzie method in addition to first-line care for acute low back pain: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Low back pain is a highly prevalent and disabling condition worldwide. Clinical guidelines for the management of patients with acute low back pain recommend first-line treatment consisting of advice, reassurance and simple analgesics. Exercise is also commonly prescribed to these patients.

imProving Outcomes after STroke clinical pilot trial protocol.

Rationale: One in three patients experience depression after stroke and this risk is consistent over time. A strategy to prevent depression that could be economically delivered to most stroke patients and ideally which also has a low likelihood of adverse events needs to be developed and evaluated. Aims POST aims to determine whether a simple intervention (postcards) prevents depression (Hospital Anxiety and Depression rating Scale, HADS depression subscale score > or =8) in patients with a recent stroke.

Relative benefits of population-level interventions targeting restraint-use in child car passengers.

Objectives: Because public health resources for injury prevention are limited, methods for comparing competing strategies are needed. We aimed to estimate potential injury reductions for 4 population-level interventions that target restraint practices for child car passengers aged 0 to 12 years.

Methods: Population-attributable risk fraction (PARF) is a population-level estimate of excess risk from exposure to a risk factor.

Effects of early intensive blood pressure-lowering treatment on the growth of hematoma and perihematomal edema in acute intracerebral hemorrhage: the Intensive Blood Pressure Reduction in Acute Cerebral Haemorrhage Trial (INTERACT).

Background And Purpose: The Intensive Blood Pressure Reduction In Acute Cerebral Haemorrhage Trial (INTERACT) study suggests that early intensive blood pressure (BP) lowering can attenuate hematoma growth at 24 hours after intracerebral hemorrhage. The present analyses aimed to determine the effects of treatment on hematoma and perihematomal edema over 72 hours.

Methods: INTERACT included 404 patients with CT-confirmed intracerebral hemorrhage, elevated systolic BP (150 to 220 mm Hg), and capacity to start BP-lowering treatment within 6 hours of intracerebral hemorrhage.

Effects of perindopril-based lowering of blood pressure on intracerebral hemorrhage related to amyloid angiopathy: the PROGRESS trial.

Background And Purpose: Patients with cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) are at high risk for intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), but no effective prevention strategies have been established. The objective is to determine whether lowering of blood pressure (BP) provides protection for this high-risk patient group.

Methods: This study is a subsidiary analysis of the PROGRESS trial-a randomized, placebo-controlled trial that established the beneficial effects of BP lowering in patients with cerebrovascular disease; 6105 patients were randomly assigned to either active treatment (perindopril for all participants plus indapamide for those with neither an indication for nor a contraindication to a diuretic) or matching placebo.

Perceptions of risk: understanding cardiovascular disease.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is still the leading cause of death and disability worldwide despite the availability of well-established and effective preventive options. Accurate perception of a patient's risk by both the patient and the doctors is important as this is one of the components that determine health-related behavior. Doctors tend to not use cardiovascular (CV) risk calculators and underestimate the absolute CV risk of their patients.

An electronic clinical decision support tool to assist primary care providers in cardiovascular disease risk management: development and mixed methods evaluation.

Background: Challenges remain in translating the well-established evidence for management of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk into clinical practice. Although electronic clinical decision support (CDS) systems are known to improve practitioner performance, their development in Australian primary health care settings is limited.

Objectives: Study aims were to (1) develop a valid CDS tool that assists Australian general practitioners (GPs) in global CVD risk management, and (2) preliminarily evaluate its acceptability to GPs as a point-of-care resource for both general and underserved populations.

Coffee, decaffeinated coffee, and tea consumption in relation to incident type 2 diabetes mellitus: a systematic review with meta-analysis.

Background: Coffee consumption has been reported to be inversely associated with risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Similar associations have also been reported for decaffeinated coffee and tea. We report herein the findings of meta-analyses for the association between coffee, decaffeinated coffee, and tea consumption with risk of diabetes.

Significance of perihematomal edema in acute intracerebral hemorrhage: the INTERACT trial.

Background: Uncertainty surrounds the effects of cerebral edema on outcomes in intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH).

Methods: We used data from the INTERACT trial to determine the predictors and prognostic significance of "perihematomal" edema over 72 hours after ICH. INTERACT included 404 patients with CT-confirmed ICH and elevated systolic blood pressure (BP) (150-220 mm Hg) who had the capacity to commence BP lowering treatment within 6 hours of ICH.

A randomised clinical trial of a comprehensive exercise program for chronic whiplash: trial protocol.

Background: Whiplash is the most common injury following a motor vehicle accident. Approximately 60% of people suffer persistent pain and disability six months post injury. Two forms of exercise; specific motor relearning exercises and graded activity, have been found to be effective treatments for this condition.

Physical inactivity and chronic kidney disease in Australian adults: the AusDiab study.

Background And Aims: Physical inactivity is associated with cardiovascular risk however its relationship to chronic kidney disease is largely unknown. We examined the association between leisure-time physical activity and risk of chronic kidney disease in a prospective, population-based cohort of Australians aged ≥ 25 years (AusDiab).

Methods And Results: The baseline sample included 10,966 adults (4951 males and 6015 females).

Admission trends over 8 years for diabetic foot ulceration in a specialized diabetes unit in cameroon.

High rates of foot complications have been reported in people with diabetes in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). However, there is a paucity of data in support of the changing pattern with time. We report here data on trends in hospitalization for foot ulceration over an 8-year consecutive period in a specialized diabetes unit in SSA.

How do we define the condition 'recurrent low back pain'? A systematic review.

Recurrent low back pain (recurrent LBP) is a common condition, however, it is unclear if uniform definitions are used in studies investigating the prevalence and management of this condition. The aim of this systematic review was to identify how recurrent LBP is defined in the literature. A literature search was performed on MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, AMED, and PEDro.

Evaluation of the predictive validity of the Orebro Musculoskeletal Pain Screening Questionnaire.

Objectives: To compare the predictive ability of the Orebro Musculoskeletal Pain Questionnaire-a screening tool for psychosocial factors in patients with low back pain across 2 cultural settings (Norway and Australasia) and to establish whether the Orebro provides additional information about outcome than that provided by the baseline value of the prognostic outcome.

Methods: Prospective cohort studies with 12 month follow-up; 97 working patients were seeking primary care in Norway and 133 working individuals participated in a trial conducted in Australasia. A series of multiple regression analyses were conducted with pain and disability as outcomes, and the Orebro score and baseline values of the outcome as predictors.

Motor control exercise for chronic low back pain: a randomized placebo-controlled trial.

Background: The evidence that exercise intervention is effective for treatment of chronic low back pain comes from trials that are not placebo-controlled.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of motor control exercise for people with chronic low back pain.

Design: This was a randomized, placebo-controlled trial.

Adult height and cancer mortality in Asia: the Asia Pacific Cohort Studies Collaboration.

Background: The observation that taller people experience an increased risk of selected cancers is largely restricted to Caucasian cohorts. These associations may plausibly differ in Asian populations. For the first time, we make direct comparison in the same analyses of the associations between height and a series of malignancies in Australasian (Caucasian) and Asian populations.

Perindopril-based blood pressure lowering reduces major vascular events in Asian and Western participants with cerebrovascular disease: the PROGRESS trial.

Objective: To assess the benefits of blood pressure (BP) lowering on vascular events separately for Asian and for Western participants with particular emphasis on stroke subtypes and cardiac outcomes.

Methods: This is a subsidiary analysis of Perindopril Protection Against Recurrent Stroke Study (PROGRESS), a randomized, placebo-controlled trial that established the benefits of BP lowering in 6105 patients with cerebrovascular disease, randomly assigned to either active treatment (perindopril for all, and indapamide for those with neither an indication for, nor a contraindication to, a diuretic) or placebo(s). Outcomes are total and cause-specific vascular outcomes.

A systematic review of the costs and benefits of helicopter emergency medical services.

Introduction: Helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) are popular in first world health systems despite inconsistent evidence in the scientific literature to support their use. The aim of the current study was to perform a systematic review of economic evaluations of HEMS, in order to determine the economic cost of HEMS and the associated patient-centered benefits.

Method: A systematic review was performed of studies that provided a cost estimate of HEMS.