Australian Medical Association

MJA Media Release - ENDEMIC TRACHOMA STILL A MAJOR PROBLEM IN INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES

Blinding endemic trachoma remains a major public health problem in many Indigenous communities, despite the knowledge that has been gathered about its control since the 1930s, according to the authors of a study published in the Medical Journal of Australia.

Prof Hugh Taylor, Harold Mitchell Chair of Indigenous Eye Health at the University of Melbourne, and his co-authors conducted a national, random cluster sample survey of eye health in Indigenous children (5-15 years) and adults (40 years and older) in 30 communities across Australia.

MJA Media Release - OVERWEIGHT AND OBESITY COSTS AUSTRALIA OVER $21 BILLION PER YEAR

In 2005, overweight and obese Australian adults cost the Australian economy $21 billion in direct health care and direct non-health care costs, plus an additional $35.6 billion in government subsidies, according to a study published in the Medical Journal of Australia.

Prof Stephen Colagiuri, Professor of Metabolic Health at the Boden Institute of Obesity, Nutrition and Exercise, University of Sydney, and his co-authors analysed data from the Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle study, collected in 1999-2000 and 2004-2005.

MJA Media Release - HIGH-RISK CARDIOVASCULAR PATIENTS UNDERTREATED IN GENERAL PRACTICE

Patients who are at high risk of a cardiovascular event are substantially undertreated, according to the authors of a study published in the Medical Journal of Australia.

Dr Emma Heeley, Senior Research Fellow at the George Institute for International Health, and her co-authors conducted a nationally representative, cross-sectional survey of 322 GPs, who were asked to collect data on cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors and their management in 15-20 consecutive patients aged 55 years and over.

MJA Media Release - THINK GLOBALLY, ACT LOCALLY TO REDUCE BURDEN OF DIABETIC KIDNEY DISEASE

Countries must act locally to reduce the global health burden caused by diabetic kidney disease, according to an article published in the Medical Journal of Australia.

Prof Robert Atkins, Head of Kidney Disease Prevention at Monash University, Melbourne, and Prof Paul Zimmet, Director Emeritus and Director of International Research at the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, Melbourne, write that World Kidney Day on 11 March is a time to intensify action on diabetic kidney disease.

MJA Media Release - Child sexual abuse victims at higher risk of fatal self-harm

Victims of child sexual abuse are at increased risk of suicide and accidental fatal drug overdose later in life, according to the authors of a study published in the Medical Journal of Australia.

Dr Margaret Cutajar, a psychologist from the Centre for Forensic Behavioural Science at Monash University, Melbourne, and her co-authors, Professors James Ogloff and Paul Mullen, investigated rates of fatal self-harm in 2759 people who were medically ascertained as being victims of child sexual abuse (CSA) between 1964 and 1995.

They found significantly higher rates of suicide and accidental fatal drug overdose in the CSA cohort compared with age-limited national data for the general population, with relative risks of 18.09 for suicide and 49.22 for accidental fatal drug overdose in CSA victims.

MJA Media Release - Call for legislation to criminalise public hospital data manipulation

Nationally uniform legislation is needed to make health service reporting standards consistent and to criminalise public sector data fraud, according to an article published in the Medical Journal of Australia.

Dr Antony Nocera, an emergency physician at Dubbo Base Hospital, NSW, writes that systems for reporting the performance of Australian public hospitals are inadequate.

Performance-based hospital funding had been touted as a tool for health care reform, Dr Nocera said, but there is evidence that this had led to fraudulent reporting of hospital performance in Victoria and NSW.

MJA Media Release - Specific guidelines needed to prioritise elective surgery waiting lists

A lack of specific guidelines to help surgeons decide how to prioritise public hospital patients’ elective surgery may be compromising patient care, according to an article published in the Medical Journal of Australia.

Dr Andrea Curtis, a Research Fellow at the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine at Monash University and Prof John McNeil, Head of the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine at Monash University, and their co-authors write that new evidence-based criteria should be developed to ensure that patients on public hospital elective surgery lists are assigned to the most appropriate urgency category.

“It is essential that those who have the greatest need for surgery and will benefit most from it receive it in a timely manner and before those with lesser need,” Prof McNeil said. “However, priority for surgery is determined … by unspecified, intuitive criteria that may vary between doctors.”

MJA Media Release - Socio-Demographic factors put rural women at higher risk of obesity

Living in rural areas does not of itself put socio-economically disadvantaged rural women and children at higher risk of overweight and obesity, according to the authors of a study published in the Medical Journal of Australia.

Rather, higher levels of obesity among women in rural areas may be attributed to individual-level socio-demographic characteristics more common in this group, such as higher age, lower levels of education, being Australian-born, being married and having more children, the study suggests.

Dr Verity Cleland, from the Centre for Physical Activity and Nutrition Research at Deakin University, Melbourne, and her co-authors compared the weight status of women of childbearing age and their children living in socio-economically disadvantaged rural and urban areas of Victoria.

MJA Media Release - Hospitals report low compliance with antibiotic prophylaxis guidelines

Many hospitals are not complying with national guidelines for antibiotic prophylaxis in cardiac surgery, particularly those regarding the duration of antibiotic administration, according to the results of research published in the Medical Journal of Australia.

Dr Timothy Haydon, an intensivist at St Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne, and his co-authors conducted two point-prevalence surveys of intensive care units in 24 public and 27 private hospitals performing cardiac surgery in Australia in 2004 and 2008.

MJA Media Release - Drowning is still a big killer in Australia – more research needed

Two hundred and ninety people on average die from drowning in Australia each year, according to the results of research published in the Medical Journal of Australia.

Dr Richard Franklin, Manager of Research and Health Promotion at the Royal Life Saving Society – Australia, and his co-authors conducted an audit of all unintentional drowning deaths in Australia from 1 July 2002 to 30 June 2007.

Their study showed that children aged under five years still had the highest rate of drowning (2.63 per 100,000 people), although, significantly, the proportion of total drowning deaths accounted for by this age group decreased from 22 per cent in 1992-97 to 12 per cent in 2002-07.