Fattening foods - perceptions and misconceptions: a qualitative and quantitative exploration

Describes adults\u27 perceptions and beliefs about foods that are considered &quot;fattening&quot;. Use of qualitative and quantitative methods to determine the prevalence of the perceptions among adults; Range of factors that are considered when judging foods as &quot;fattening&quot;; Limitations in the public\u27s understandings of &quot;fattening foods&quot; which are inconsistent with dietary recommendations.<br /

Self-harm hospitalised morbidity and mortality risk in Australia using a matched population-based cohort

Introduction Prior and repeated self-harm hospitalisations are common risk factors for suicide. However, few studies have accounted for pre-existing comorbidities and prior hospital use when quantifying the burden of self-harm. Objectives and Approach To quantify hospitalisation in the 12 months preceding and re-hospitalisation and mortality risk in the 12 months post a self-harm hospitalisation. A population-based matched cohort study of individuals ≥18 years using linked hospitalisation and mortality records from four Australian states. Self-harm was identified using a principal diagnosis of injury (S00-T75 or T79) and an external cause of self-harm (X60-X84). The index self-harm hospitalisation was identified and 12-month pre- and post-index injury health service use was examined. The non-injured comparison cohort was randomly selected from the electoral roll and was matched 1:1 on age, gender, and postcode of residence. Comorbidities were identified using diagnosis classifications with a 1-year lookback. Negative binomial regression was used to quantify associations between self-harm and counts of hospital admissions 12-months post the index hospitalisation using rate ratios and 95%CIs. Results There were 11,597 individuals with a self-harm hospitalisation in New South Wales, South Australia, Queensland or Tasmania with a matched comparison. Mean age was 38.6 years (SD=14.9) and 57.6% were female. The self-harm cohort had a higher proportion of Charlson comorbidities, mental health diagnoses, alcohol misuse and drug-related dependence than their matched counterparts. The self-harm cohort experienced a higher proportion of health service use in the 12-months preceding (20.5% vs 10.1%) and post (21.2% vs 10.6%) the index admission and a higher mortality rate (2.9% vs 0.3%) than their matched counterparts. The adjusted rate ratios (ARR) for hospital readmission were highest for females (ARR: 2.86; 95% CI: 2.33-3.52) and individuals aged 55-64 years (ARR: 3.96; 95%CI: 2.79-5.64). Conclusion/Implications Improved hospitalisation burden quantification for self-harm can inform resource allocation for intervention and after care services for individuals at-risk of repeated self-harm. Better assessment of at-risk self-harm behaviour, appropriate referrals and improved post-discharge care, focusing on care continuity is needed

All-age hospitalization rates in coal seam gas areas in Queensland, Australia, 1995–2011

Background: Unconventional natural gas development (UNGD) is expanding globally, with Australia expanding development in the form of coal seam gas (CSG). Residents and other interest groups have voiced concerns about the potential environmental and health impacts related to CSG. This paper compares objective health outcomes from three study areas in Queensland, Australia to examine potential environmentally-related health impacts. Methods: Three study areas were selected in an ecologic study design: A CSG area, a coal mining area, and a rural/agricultural area. Admitted patient data, as well as population data and additional factors, were obtained for each calendar year from 1995 through 2011 to calculate all-age hospitalization rates and age-standardized rates in each of these areas. The three areas were compared using negative binomial regression analyses (unadjusted and adjusted models) to examine increases over time of hospitalization rates grouped by primary diagnosis (19 ICD chapters), with rate ratios serving to compare the within-area regression slopes between the areas. Results: The CSG area did not have significant increases in all-cause hospitalization rates over time for all-ages compared to the coal and rural study areas in adjusted models (RR: 1.02, 95 % CI: 1.00-1.04 as compared to the coal mining area; RR: 1.01, 95 % CI: 0.99-1.04 as compared to the rural area). While the CSG area did not show significant increases in specific hospitalization rates compared to both the coal mining and rural areas for any ICD chapters in the adjusted models, the CSG area showed increases in hospitalization rates compared only to the rural area for neoplasms (RR: 1.09, 95 % CI: 1.02-1.16) and blood/immune diseases (RR: 1.14, 95 % CI: 1.02-1.27). Conclusions: This exploratory study of all-age hospitalization rates for three study areas in Queensland suggests that certain hospital admissions rates increased more quickly in the CSG study area than in other study areas, particularly the rural area, after adjusting for key sociodemographic factors. These findings are an important first step in identifying potential health impacts of CSG in the Australian context and serve to generate hypotheses for future studies

Fixtures for Production of Modular Weld Tables

The problem that we worked with our client to solve focuses on the production of modular weld tables. The design for the weld table was already completed at the time we took on our project. The problem was that assembly of the table took far too long to be feasible for a production run of multiple units. Lack of proper fixturing would also lead to variance in the tolerances of each unit produced

Recurrent episodes of injury in children : an Australian cohort study

Objective The aim of the present study was to compare sociodemographic characteristics of children with single versus recurrent episodes of injury and provide contemporary evidence for Australian injury prevention policy development. Methods Participants were identified from the Environments for Healthy Living: Griffith Birth Cohort Study 2006-11 (n≤2692). Demographic data were linked to the child's hospital emergency and admissions data from birth to December 2013. Data were dichotomised in two ways: (1) injured or non-injured; and (2) single or recurrent episodes of injury. Multivariate logistic regression was used for analysis. Results The adjusted model identified two factors significantly associated with recurrent episodes of injury in children aged 0.1). Conclusion National priorities should include targeted programs addressing the higher odds of recurrent episodes of injury experienced by children aged <3 years with younger mothers or those injured in the first 18 months of life. What is known about the topic? Children who experience recurrent episodes of injury are at greater risk of serious or irrecoverable harm, particularly when repeat trauma occurs in the early years of life. What does the paper add? The present study identifies key factors associated with recurrent episodes of injury in young Australian children. This is imperative to inform evidence-based national injury prevention policy development in line with the recent expiry of the National Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion Plan: 2004-2014. What are the implications for practitioners? Injury prevention efforts need to target the increased injury risk experienced by families from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and, as a priority, children under 3 years of age with younger mothers and children who are injured in the first 18 months of life. These families require access to education programs, resources, equipment and support, particularly in the child's early years. These programs could be provided as part of the routine paediatric and child health visits available to families after their child's birth or incorporated into hospital and general practitioner injury treatment plans

Impact of participant attrition on child injury outcome estimates : a longitudinal birth cohort study in Australia

Background Longitudinal research is subject to participant attrition. Systemic differences between retained participants and those lost to attrition potentially bias prevalence of outcomes, as well as exposure-outcome associations. This study examines the impact of attrition on the prevalence of child injury outcomes and the association between sociodemographic factors and child injury. Methods Participants were recruited as part of the Environments for Healthy Living (EFHL) birth cohort study. Baseline data were drawn from maternal surveys. Child injury outcome data were extracted from hospital records, 2006-2013. Participant attrition status was assessed up to 2014. Rates of injury-related episodes of care were calculated, taking into account exposure time and Poisson regression was performed to estimate exposure-outcome associations. Results Of the 2222 participating families, 799 families (36.0%) had complete follow-up data. Those with incomplete data included 137 (6.2%) who withdrew, 308 (13.8%) were lost to follow-up and 978 families (44.0%) who were partial/non-responders. Families of lower socioeconomic status were less likely to have complete follow-up data (p<0.05). Systematic differences in attrition did not result in differential child injury outcomes or significant differences between the attrition and non-attrition groups in risk factor effect estimates. Participants who withdrew were the only group to demonstrate differences in child injury outcomes. Conclusion This research suggests that even with considerable attrition, if the proportion of participants who withdraw is minimal, overall attrition is unlikely to affect the population prevalence estimate of child injury or measures of association between sociodemographic factors and child injury

Questioning Identity: How a Diverse Set of Respondents Answer Standard Questions About Ethnicity and Race

Ethnoracial identity refers to the racial and ethnic categories that people use to classify themselves and others. How it is measured in surveys has implications for understanding inequalities. Yet how people self-identify may not conform to the categories standardized survey questions use to measure ethnicity and race, leading to potential measurement error. In interviewer-administered surveys, answers to survey questions are achieved through interviewer–respondent interaction. An analysis of interviewer–respondent interaction can illuminate whether, when, how, and why respondents experience problems with questions. In this study, we examine how indicators of interviewer–respondent interactional problems vary across ethnoracial groups when respondents answer questions about ethnicity and race. Further, we explore how interviewers respond in the presence of these interactional problems. Data are provided by the 2013–2014 Voices Heard Survey, a computer-assisted telephone survey designed to measure perceptions of participating in medical research among an ethnoracially diverse sample of respondents

Hospital service use for young people with chronic health conditions : a population-based matched retrospective cohort study

Aim: This study aims to identify the hospitalised morbidity associated with three common chronic health conditions among young people using a population-based matched cohort. Methods: A population-level matched case-comparison retrospective cohort study of young people aged ≤18 years hospitalised with asthma, type 1 diabetes (T1D) or epilepsy during 2005–2018 in New South Wales, Australia using linked birth, health and mortality records. The comparison cohort was matched on age, sex and residential postcode. Adjusted rate ratios (ARR) were calculated by sex and age group. Results: There were 65 055 young people hospitalised with asthma, 6648 with epilepsy, and 2209 with T1D. Young people with epilepsy (ARR 10.95; 95% confidence interval (CI) 9.98–12.02), T1D (ARR 8.64; 95% CI 7.72–9.67) or asthma (ARR 4.39; 95% CI 4.26–4.53) all had a higher risk of hospitalisation than matched peers. Admission risk was highest for males (ARR 11.00; 95% CI 9.64–12.56) and females with epilepsy (ARR 10.83; 95% CI 9.54–12.29) compared to peers. The highest admission risk by age group was for young people aged 10–14 years (ARR 5.50; 95% CI 4.77–6.34) living with asthma, children aged ≤4 years (ARR 12.68; 95% CI 11.35–14.17) for those living with epilepsy, and children aged 5–9 years (ARR 9.12; 95% CI 7.69–10.81) for those living with T1D compared to peers. Conclusions: The results will guide health service planning and highlight opportunities for better management of chronic health conditions, such as further care integration between acute, primary and community health services for young people

Impact of chronic health conditions and injury on school performance and health outcomes in New South Wales, Australia : a retrospective record linkage study protocol

Introduction: Children who have sustained a serious injury or who have a chronic health condition, such as diabetes or epilepsy, may have their school performance adversely impacted by the condition, treatment of the condition and/or time away from school. Examining the potential adverse impact requires the identification of children most likely to be affected and the use of objective measures of education performance. This may highlight educational disparities that could be addressed with learning support. This study aims to examine education performance, school completion and health outcomes of children in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, who were hospitalised with an injury or a chronic health condition compared with children who have not been hospitalised for these conditions. Method and analysis This research will be a retrospective population-level case-comparison study of hospitalised injured or chronically ill children (ie, diabetes, epilepsy, asthma or mental health conditions) aged ≤18 years in NSW, Australia, using linked health and education administrative data collections. It will examine the education performance, school completion and health outcomes of children who have been hospitalised in NSW with an injury or a chronic health condition compared with children randomly drawn from the NSW population (matched on gender, age and residential postcode) who have not been hospitalised for these conditions. Ethics and dissemination The study received ethics approval from the NSW Population Health Services Research Ethics Committee (2018HRE0904). Findings from the research will be published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at scientific conferences

Mental disorders and their impact on academic performance in Australia: a matched population-based cohort study.

Objectives To compare scholastic performance and high school completion of young people hospitalised with a mental disorder compared to young people not hospitalised for a mental disorder by sex. Approach A population-based matched case-comparison cohort study of young people aged ≤18 years hospitalised for a mental disorder during 2005-2018 in New South Wales, Australia using linked birth, health, education and mortality records. The comparison cohort was matched on age, sex and residential postcode. Generalised linear mixed modelling examined risk of school performance below the national minimum standard (NMS) and generalised linear regression examined risk of not completing high school for young people with a mental disorder compared to matched peers. Results Young males with a mental disorder had over a 1.7 times higher risk of not achieving the NMS for numeracy (ARR: 1.71; 95%CI 1.35-2.15) and reading (ARR: 1.99; 95%CI 1.80-2.20) compared to matched peers. Young females with a mental disorder had around 1.5 times higher risk of not achieving the NMS for numeracy (ARR: 1.50; 95%CI 1.14-1.96) compared to matched peers. Both young males and females with a disorder had around a three times higher risk of not completing high school compared to peers. Young males with multiple disorders had up to a six-fold increased risk and young females with multiple disorders had up to an eight-fold increased risk of not completing high school compared to peers. Conclusions Early recognition and support could improve school performance and educational outcomes for young people who were hospitalised with a mental disorder. This support should be provided in conjunction with access to mental health services and school involvement and assistance