ANZCTR search results

As two million Australians have prediabetes and the medical expenditures are increasing, prediabetes management is a critical and challenging topic in our healthcare. People with prediabetes have a higher risk for serious health problems such as heart disease, stroke, blindness, kidney failure, loss of toes, feet, or legs. It is necessary to explore a holistic approach to prevent prediabetes from progressing to type 2 diabetes to mitigate the medical and economic burdens. By using laser light as an alternative to needles to stimulate acupuncture points, light acupuncture is a non-invasive, safer, pain-free, and non-infectious alternative to traditional acupuncture. It could be a promising add-on for prediabetes management. This study aims to evaluate the feasibility, short-term therapeutic effects, and safety of light acupuncture in prediabetes management in community settings in Western Australian (WA).

The primary purpose of the ChAP-II Study is to assess the impact of an intervention based on online modules, a webinar, and one-on-one registrar/supervisor contact, on antibiotic prescribing by GP registrars, specifically for acute bronchitis/bronchiolitis. We hypothesise that an appropriately targeted educational intervention will improve adherence to evidence-based guidelines regarding antibiotic prescribing for respiratory infections by GP registrars participating in a vocational training program (that is, a reduction in prescribing of antibiotics for acute bronchitis/bronchiolitis and a number of other non-pneumonia respiratory tract infections).

The aim of this study is to assess the visual performance and wearability of prototype ophthalmic lenses compared to commercially available ophthalmic lenses.

Treatment for haemophilia has improved immensely over the past 30 years which has increased the life expectancy in these patients. As such, comorbidities of ageing and their impact is now an area of importance – in particular musculoskeletal health. Reports have shown that fracture incidence is higher in patients with haemophilia, with disease severity effecting fracture risk. Currently the underlying mechanisms of increased fracture risk in patients with haemophilia is unknown, or what age the bone loss begins and whether or not this is different to the general population. Majority of existing studies have reported low areal bone mineral density (aBMD) measured with dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA), however, other components of bone strength may be compromised, and may also contribute to the increased fracture risk. For example, the separate bone compartments (cortical vs trabecular), bone geometry (shape and size), microarchitecture (organisation of trabecular bone) and bone strength (buckling vs strain). With the advancements in bone imaging technology, these other components of bone strength can now be measured using cutting-edge high-resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography (HRpQCT). Currently there are no guidelines on bone density screening or osteoporosis treatment for patients with haemophilia. As such, it is unknown when the best “window or age” for bone density screening would be most effective to prevent fracture. The findings from this study will indicate at which age bone density screening will be most beneficial for patients with haemophilia A. Therefore, The Haemophilia Osteoporosis Registry (THOR) is timely as it has been empirically designed and powered to identify the mechanisms of bone loss in patients with haemophilia.

Late talkers are children who show a later onset and slower progression of expressive language than their peers. Although late talking is prevalent in populations of young children, many do not receive early support. Some parent-directed interventions have been specifically created to increase child language skills. In these language-specific interventions, like Dialogic Reading, parents are trained in targeted strategies and techniques to scaffold their children’s language development. Other parent-directed interventions, like Group Triple P, have been designed to improve family functioning, child behaviour, and child development more generally. There is great potential for Group Triple P, which takes a broad-based approach, to also scaffold language learning and improve these outcomes for late-talking toddlers, but at present, studies have tested the intervention’s effectiveness in the language domain. This trial will randomize parents of late-talking 2- to 3-year-old children to either Group Triple P or Dialogic Reading interventions lasting 8 weeks, or a waitlist control group. Primary language outcomes will be assessed at baseline, post-test, and 3-month follow up. Other outcomes include parent-reported child behaviour and parenting style. All interventions and testing will be completed online. The Group Triple P program is disseminated globally by Triple P International, based in Brisbane, Australia (Triple P-Positive Parenting Program). Should this trial demonstrate effectiveness of the program in increasing expressive language performance, this established program can be readily repurposed to meet the needs late-talking toddlers, and their families, in the community. We anticipate that when parents participate in either intervention (Group Triple P or Dialogic Reading) children will have better language outcomes than those who receive no intervention in the same time period (those in the waitlist control group). We also hypothesize that children whose parents receive Group Triple P will show greater improvements in behaviour than those in the Dialogic Reading and waitlist control group.

Insomnia is a prevalent and debilitating disorder in Australia. The recommended treatment for insomnia is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for insomnia (CBTi). However, there are very few clinicians in Australia with training in CBTi. Consequently, most patients with insomnia never access CBTi. Digital CBTi programs are an effective and potentially scalable intervention to manage insomnia. There are very few evidence-based digital CBTi programs available in Australia, and currently no publicly-available digital CBTi programs that provide personalised weekly behavioural therapy recommendations. This randomised controlled trial aims to investigate the effectiveness of a digital brief cognitive behavioural therpay for insomnia program, versus waitlist education control, on reducing insomnia symptoms in people with insomnia. It is hyopthesised that the group who receive the brief CBTi program will report a greater reduction in insomnia symptoms, compared to the group that receive education (waitlist control).

This study aims to identify predictors of engagement in, and outcomes following, a two-week app-based mindfulness intervention in a sample of adults with high levels of generalised anxiety. On an online platform, participants will complete a cognitive task and questionnaires regarding aspects of their mental health, personality traits and patterns in thinking and behaviour. They will then be asked to use the Smiling Mind app to practice mindfulness meditation daily for the next two weeks. App usage data will be obtained directly from Smiling Mind to gain a measure of participant engagement in the intervention. Psychological predictors of engagement in the intervention (minutes and days of practice) and outcome (pre-post change in generalised anxiety symptoms) will then be examined. It is expected that psychological factors related to the maintenance of generalised anxiety will predict poorer engagement outcomes. Outcomes related to anxiety, depression, stress and worry will be examined from pre to post intervention.

The primary objective of this research is to evaluate the preliminary effectiveness of a pragmatic ACLR rehabilitation program on the ability of patients to meet established return to sport discharge criteria and complete rehabilitation. Patients will complete a 5-phase rehabilitation program that addresses not only the physical deficits associated with ACL injury and reconstruction but also the contextual and patient-related factors which may present barriers to patients achieving return to sport discharge criteria and completing rehabilitation to evidence based standards. All interventions will be delivered at private outpatient physiotherapy clinics across the Gold Coast as part of clinical care. Patients We hypothesise that a pragmatic ACLR rehabilitation program in community-level athletes will be a feasible, clinically, and practically applicable model of patient care, which leads to a higher percentage of patients reaching return to sport discharge criteria and completing rehabilitation.

Pain after tonsillectomy is widely recognised to be not fully controlled by current pain management methods, especially in children. The aim of the study is to find out whether the use of the medication celecoxib will be useful in reducing this pain. The hypothesis is that celecoxib will be safe and effective to manage pain in children after tonsillectomy.

This is a pilot randomised controlled trial for recently discharged patients who are malnourished or at risk of malnutrition to receive a combined nutrition and exercise intervention at home. The control group will receive usual care (paper-based patient education materials) whilst the intervention group will receive personalised nutrition and exercise education for a 12 week period delivered by a digital app into their home. The research assistant who conducts baseline and the 12 week assessment will remain blinded to the group allocation. Outcome measures are: recruitment rate, dropout rate, nutrition and exercise adherence, and app engagement. Ten intervention group participants will also be invited to contribute to an interview at the conclusion of the intervention to obtain qualitative information on the app and intervention acceptability. All interviews (approx. 30mins each interview) will be completed using Zoom teleconference. The interview will be audio-recorded, and transcribed by a professional transcription service.