ANZCTR search results

The purpose of this study was to assess the acceptability and effectiveness of providing real time tailored feedback, compared to generic feedback, to patients of Aboriginal Medical Services about their health behaviour risk factors. Participants could choose to show or discuss the feedback with their GP. The provision of tailored feedback to patients pre-consultation is designed to promote opportunities for both the patient and GP or health worker to consider the patient’s health risks and initiate actions to modify these risk factors. The study represents a novel approach to health promotion for the Indigenous population. Such an approach minimises the amount of time demanded of GPs and other clinic staff in screening for risk factors and potentially encourages the discussion of risk factors between the patient and GP, while also increasing the probability that patients are aware of their health status and are receptive to specific advice to from their GP. The acceptability of providing personalised feedback compared to generic feedback to patients on their self reported health risk behaviours, was assessed in terms participant assessment of the utility of the feedback and whether participants showed the feedback to their GP or otherwise used the feedback during their appointment; The effectiveness of personalised feedback compared to generic feedback was assessed in terms of increasing rates of discussion or action (such as referral or follow up appointment) on risk factors during the consultation between the GP and participant.

The HUNTER trial is a randomised clinical trial in Australian non-tertiary special care nurseries comparing the efficacy and safety of high-flow nasal cannulae (HFNC) to continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) as primary respiratory support after birth for preterm and term infants with early respiratory distress.

The research project is studying a new type of dressing for wound to the lower leg, that requires a skin graft. The new dressing is called a PICO dressing. We aim to show that PICO dressing is as efficient as the standard dressing in terms of graft take rate, while giving participants a better quallity of life during healing and a reduced lenght of hospital stay.

The purpose of this study is to test the safety, tolerability and Pharmacodynamics (what the study drug does to thebody) of LTB4. This study is conducted in healthy men and women to find out what is a safe, tolerable dose of the study drug and to determine its effect on blood cells. The results of this part of the study will lead to a second part in which we will test the safe, tolerable dose determined in this study in patients with the lung disease bronchiectasis (a condition in which damage to the airways causes them to widen and become flabby and scarred) who are chronically infected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa (a bacterial infection).

The study will let us explore the role of insulin pump therapy for adolescent with type 1 diabetes and poor control. These patients are often excluded from accessing this therapeutic tools due to concerns regarding safety, or because a lack of financial support. We will look at many outcomes including glycaemic control, episodes of diabetic ketoacidosis and severe hypoglycaemia, as well general quality of life and psychosocial functioning.

Epidemiological studies of routine vaccinations and allergic disease have had mixed results, with studies showing positive, negative or no association. Very few randomised studies have been performed. Observational studies have the potential to be confounded by reasons for not receiving vaccination which may be associated with allergic disease. To minimise confounding associated with receipt of vaccination, McDonald et al. (JACI 2008;121(3):626-31) investigated the effect of timing of vaccination on asthma, finding that risk of asthma was reduced when the first dose of DTP was delayed by greater than one month. The HealthNuts cohort was initiated in 2007 to study environmental and genetic determinates of food allergy. This population provides an opportunity to test the association between vaccination timing and food allergy using the gold standard outcome of oral food challenges. We hypothesise that there may be an association between delay in the first dose of pertussis-containing vaccine and protection from food allergy at one year of age. Methods: Enrolment, examination and food-allergy testing have been performed as part of the HealthNuts study. Briefly, 5276 parents agreed to enroll their children in the cohort and 5120 had a skin prick test performed at 1 year of age. 1089 children had a positive skin prick test and were invited for an oral food challenge within the following months, of which 928 children completed, along with 197 skin-prick negative control children. Parents also completed an extensive survey of symptoms of allergic disease, family history of allergic disease, demography, environmental factors, and other risk factors for allergic disease. Data on vaccination doses and timing up to 18 months of age will be obtained for children of the HealthNuts cohort from the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register. Statistical analyses will be performed as described.

Our research team has developed a GP-delivered weight management program for adults in primary care based on the current Australian guidelines. "The Change Program" has already had qualitative review from both GPs and consumer representatives. It will provide GPs with practical support in managing overweight and obese adults, making the current guidelines accessible and implementable in a clinical setting. The overarching aim of this research program is to develop an effective GP-delivered weight management program for adults that can be delivered in Australian general practice. This is a pilot implementation study to determine the feasibility for a larger scale RCT of a weight management program for overweight and obese adults in general practice. It will not have an effectiveness component at this stage. The elements of feasibility that we aim to explore include: recruitment feasibility, dropout rates, refinement of the protocol and collection of cost data, determining time processes. The outcome of this pilot will aim to feed into a large scale, longer term, RCT to determine the effectiveness of this GP-delivered intervention. Currently there are no GP-delivered weight management interventions in Australia and this will be a practical tool that GPs can use in their practice on a daily basis.

Background: Overweight and obesity are major health problems in Australia, with 61% of the population being either overweight or obese. Individuals, low in self-control, consume greater amounts of unhealthy food and are more likely to be overweight. Executive function training, an intervention technique designed to increase self-control and consequently decrease unhealthy food consumption, has demonstrated moderate success. However, researchers employing this technique have not focused on the mechanisms underlying the effect of training. Objectives: To conduct an executive function training intervention to determine whether training buffers against self-control ‘depletion’ effects and results in less unhealthy eating behaviour. Methods: Participants will either complete an executive function training paradigm or an inert version of training, followed by a self-control depletion task or a non-depleting task, and finally a taste test. Expected Findings: Those who receive training will eat less unhealthy food after the depletion task compared to those who did not receive training.

As hyperglycaemia in acute ischaemic stroke is associated with increased infarct size and worse functional outcomes, therapies that can maintain normoglycaemia during stroke are of significant clinical importance. GLP-1 analogues, including exenatide, are a potential therapeutic option for the effective regulation of blood glucose levels in acute stroke, without the risk of inducing hypoglycaemia, which can be associated with intensive insulin therapy. GLP-1 therapy is more straightforward to implement and does not require dose adjustment over time, as is necessary for intensive insulin therapy. This may result in less of a burden on treating clinical staff. Furthermore, administration of GLP-1 may have direct beneficial effects on neuronal cell survival and result in neuroprotection, as suggested by animal studies and preliminary clinical data. Thus, the use of a GLP-1 receptor agonist in the management of hyperglycaemia in acute ischaemic stroke (AIS) may confer a benefit in morbidity and mortality for patients long-term.

People with chronic disease only have access to structured exercise rehabilitation programs in tertiary health services if they have a diagnosis of chronic respiratory disease, chronic heart failure or have suffered a heart attack/undergone heart surgery. Current exercise rehabilitation programs address these conditions in a single disease assessment and management strategy, although the frequency of people with multiple chronic conditions (or multimorbidity) in Australia is increasing. Research suggests that other people with chronic diseases (such as cancer, diabetes, chronic kidney disease) also benefit from exercise training however these people are unable to access structured exercise rehabilitation currently as funding to run these services is lacking. The aim of this project is to pilot the implementation of a generic rehabilitation program for people with chronic disease in a parallel randomised controlled trial. This trial will randomise people with multimorbidity to receiving a generic chronic disease rehabilitation program or usual care. The aim of this pilot trial (one of a pair) is to test the feasibility of implementing a generic chronic disease rehabilitation program (multimorbidity rehabilitation) and to measure effect sizes that will be used to power subsequent large randomised controlled trials to answer the questions of efficacy and cost-effectiveness.