Early pregnancy high normal HbA1c: a high risk group?

Aim: To determine if high normal early pregnancy HbA1c (35-40mmol/mol), in the absence of diabetes, was associated with increased risk of adverse perinatal outcomes compared to normal HbA1c (<35mmol/mol).

Method: A retrospective chart review was carried out on all singleton births in the Wellington region from 1 July 2019 to 31 December 2019. Exclusion criteria were participants domiciled outside the Wellington region, HbA1c ≥50mmol/mol, pre-existing diabetes, gestational diabetes in current pregnancy, no HbA1c performed <20 weeks or the first HbA1c was taken at ≥20 weeks.

Making sense of osteoarthritis: A narrative review.

People make sense of osteoarthritis (OA) by drawing on information, beliefs, and knowledge. This narrative review summarises diverse qualitative and quantitative research investigating beliefs and knowledge about OA and the impact these have on behaviour and outcomes. It synthesises evidence and highlights key actions clinicians can take to support people to make sense of OA in helpful ways.

Fitness to stand trial: 415 consecutive defendants assessed by a New Zealand forensic psychiatry service.

Background: New Zealand defendants found unfit to stand trial following a Court-ordered forensic mental health assessment cannot be detained in prison and must either be released, or made subject to a mental health or intellectual disability order. There is increasing awareness of the need to identify these people and protect their rights.

Methods: Retrospective audit of 8 years of Court-ordered health assessor reports addressing fitness to stand trial prepared by a New Zealand regional forensic mental health service with a catchment area of around 850,000.

Adolescents' perceptions of food outlets in the school neighbourhood and their unhealthy snacking behaviour on the way to and from school.

Objective: To understand the relationship between adolescents' unhealthy snacking behaviour during their school journey and their perceived and objective measures of food outlet availability in the school neighbourhood.

Design: A cross-sectional survey enquired about socio-demographic information, school transport modes, perceived presence of food outlets in the school neighbourhood and unhealthy food purchase and consumption on the school journey. A geographical information system analysis of the food outlets within 500 m and 1000 m school buffers was undertaken.

Improving Nursing Oral Care Practice for Community-Dwelling Care-Dependent Older People.

Aim: Oral care is one of the most neglected nursing practices owing to a lack of training, standard nursing oral care guidelines and low confidence and skills. There is little evidence to inform the development of oral care training and guidelines, which ideally should be done in collaboration with oral health professionals. Further, there is a lack of research, particularly in New Zealand, with nursing staff caring for care-dependent older people, including those ageing in their own homes.

Predicting the risk of diabetes complications using machine learning and social administrative data in a country with ethnic inequities in health: Aotearoa New Zealand.

Background: In the age of big data, linked social and administrative health data in combination with machine learning (ML) is being increasingly used to improve prediction in chronic disease, e.g., cardiovascular diseases (CVD).

National survey of hospital rheumatology service users to inform a statement set describing the minimum service expectations for publicly funded rheumatology secondary care in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Aims: The essential components of a rheumatology service for public hospital rheumatology services in Aotearoa New Zealand are not yet defined. We aimed to seek the views of users of public hospital rheumatology services on potential components of a rheumatology service.

Methods: Online survey of adults in Aotearoa New Zealand who self-reported as having used district health board rheumatology services in the past 5 years.

Automated Insulin Delivery for Young People with Type 1 Diabetes and Elevated A1c.

Background: Automated insulin delivery is the treatment of choice in adults with type 1 diabetes. Data are needed on the efficacy and safety of automated insulin delivery for children and youth with diabetes and elevated glycated hemoglobin levels.

Methods: In this multicenter, open-label randomized controlled trial, we assigned patients with type 1 diabetes in a 1:1 ratio either to use an automated insulin delivery system (MiniMed 780G) or to receive usual diabetes care of multiple daily injections or non--automated pump therapy (control).

Environmental Factors for Sustained Telehealth Use in Mental Health Services: A Mixed Methods Analysis.

The mental health service delivery gap remains high globally. Appropriate telehealth use may increase capacity through flexible remote care provision. Despite the historical lack of telehealth integration into publicly funded mental health services, during COVID-19 lockdowns, services rapidly switched to telephone and audiovisual care provision.

Policy approaches to decarbonising the transport sector in Aotearoa New Zealand: modelling equity, population health, and health-system effects.

Background: Health co-benefits are a key potential advantage of transport decarbonisation policy. However, health effects will occur in the context of existing transport-health inequities and decarbonisation policies will themselves affect inequities. This research examines the effects of national decarbonisation pathways for transport on population health, health inequity, and health-system costs in Aotearoa New Zealand.

The impact of Individual Placement and Support on employment, health and social outcomes: quasi-experimental evidence from Aotearoa New Zealand.

Aim: To examine the impact of integrated employment support and mental health treatment (Individual Placement and Support, or "IPS") on Aotearoa New Zealand participants' employment, income, health, education and justice outcomes.

Method: De-identified linked data from the Stats NZ Integrated Data Infrastructure and propensity score matching were used to estimate effects.

Results: In total, 1,659 IPS participants were matched to 1,503 non-participants.

Pelvic floor muscle training for female urinary incontinence: development of a programme theory from a longitudinal qualitative case study.

Background: Urinary incontinence (UI) negatively affects the well-being of women globally. Pelvic Floor Muscle Training (PFMT) is a complex intervention that aims to decrease UI symptoms. Information about how the multiple complex components involved in PFMT achieve and maintain the desired effect are rarely studied as a whole.

Living with rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease in Victoria, Australia: A qualitative study.

Background: In Victoria, Australia, children with Pacific Islander ('Pacific') ethnicities are overrepresented in acute rheumatic fever (ARF) and rheumatic heart disease (RHD). In June 2023, ARF and RHD became notifiable in Victoria. To inform public health and clinical practice, we described young Pacific patients' and their caregivers' understandings and experiences of ARF/RHD, and identified possible ways to improve the delivery of clinical care.

Indigenous access to clinical services along the lung cancer treatment pathway: a review of current evidence.

Background: Lung cancer is a deadly cancer. Early diagnosis and access to timely treatment are essential to maximizing the likelihood of survival. Indigenous peoples experience enduring disparities in lung cancer survival, and disparities in access to and through lung cancer services is one of the important drivers of these disparities.

Approach in inputs & outputs selection of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) efficiency measurement in hospitals: A systematic review.

The efficiency and productivity evaluation process commonly employs Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) as a performance tool in numerous fields, such as the healthcare industry (hospitals). Therefore, this review examined various hospital-based DEA articles involving input and output variable selection approaches and the recent DEA developments. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) methodology was utilised to extract 89 English articles containing empirical data between 2014 and 2022 from various databases (Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, ScienceDirect, Springer Link, and Google Scholar).

Adolescents' unhealthy snacking behaviour during the school journey and the association with transport modes and food outlets along the school route.

Aims: Active transport to and from school provides an opportunity for adolescents to engage in physical activity, but travelling through an obesogenic environment may have unintended consequences on their snacking behaviour. This study aimed to: (1) identify whether adolescents' unhealthy snacking behaviour was associated with school transport modes and food outlets on their estimated school route and (2) explore whether food outlet density on the school route differed between school transport modes.

Methods: Adolescents ( = 406; aged 15.

Development of an Aotearoa New Zealand adapted Mediterranean dietary pattern and Kai/food basket for the He Rourou Whai Painga randomised controlled trial.

Background: Following a Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) is associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease. He Rourou Whai Painga is a dietary intervention trial with behaviour change support that seeks to determine whether a MedDiet pattern can provide equivalent benefits in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ), a country where cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death. To do this, the MedDiet needs to be adapted in an acceptable way for NZ, with consideration of the Māori (indigenous) population.

Impact of the diagnostic label for a low-risk prostate lesion: protocol for two online factorial randomised experiments.

Introduction: Many types of prostate cancer present minimal risk to a man's lifespan or well-being, but existing terminology makes it difficult for men to distinguish these from high-risk prostate cancers. This study aims to explore whether using an alternative label for low-risk prostate cancer influences management choice and anxiety levels among Australian men and their partners.

Methods And Analysis: We will run two separate studies for Australian men and Australian women with a male partner.

Solving the Etiology of Developmental and Epileptic Encephalopathy with Spike-Wave Activation in Sleep (D/EE-SWAS).

Objective: To understand the etiological landscape and phenotypic differences between 2 developmental and epileptic encephalopathy (DEE) syndromes: DEE with spike-wave activation in sleep (DEE-SWAS) and epileptic encephalopathy with spike-wave activation in sleep (EE-SWAS).

Methods: All patients fulfilled International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) DEE-SWAS or EE-SWAS criteria with a Core cohort (n = 91) drawn from our Epilepsy Genetics research program, together with 10 etiologically solved patients referred by collaborators in the Expanded cohort (n = 101). Detailed phenotyping and analysis of molecular genetic results were performed.

Tuning CAR T-cell therapies for efficacy and reduced toxicity.

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies are a standard of care for certain relapsed or refractory B-cell cancers. However, many patients do not respond to CAR T-cell therapy or relapse later, short- and long-term toxicities are common, and current CAR T-cell therapies have limited efficacy for solid cancers. The gene engineering inherent in CAR T-cell manufacture offers an unprecedented opportunity to control cellular characteristics and design products that may overcome these limitations.