Socioeconomic differences in the cost-effectiveness of a telephone-based intervention for obesity prevention in early childhood.

Objectives: This study investigated the cost-effectiveness of an early childhood obesity prevention intervention providing telephone and short message service (SMS) support to mothers of children aged 2-4 years by socioeconomic position (SEP).

Methods: A model-based SEP-specific economic evaluation of the intervention was conducted. SEP-specific intervention costs and effects at age 5 years were derived from the trial data and applied to a cohort of 4- to 5-year-old Australian children.

Effectiveness of a telephone-based randomised clinical trial targeting obesity risk of preschool-aged children: An extension study during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: There is a great need for determining the effectiveness of telephone-based early obesity interventions targeting preschool-aged children. This was particularly important during the COVID-19 pandemic when most face-to-face health promotion programs were suspended. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of a two-year telephone-based intervention on body mass index (BMI), eating habits, active play, and screen time behaviours among preschool-aged children.

Weight Status Transitions and Validation of an Obesity Model for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Adolescents.

ObjectivesAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and adolescents are at higher risk of overweight and obesity, highlighting an inequitable public health concern. The aim of this study was to estimate transition probabilities and validate a model predicting the epidemiologic trajectory of overweight and obesity in Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.MethodsAn individual-level state-transition Markov model was developed to model transitions between healthy weight, overweight, and obesity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children aged between 2 and 14 y.

Remotely delivered physiotherapy for musculoskeletal conditions is cost saving for the health system and patients: economic evaluation of the REFORM randomised trial.

Questions: Is remotely delivered physiotherapy cost saving when compared with usual face-to-face physiotherapy as typically provided in a public hospital outpatient setting? Is remotely delivered physiotherapy cost-effective?

Design: Economic evaluation embedded within a randomised controlled, non-inferiority trial using a health system plus patient perspective.

Participants: Patients with musculoskeletal conditions presenting to Sydney public hospitals for physiotherapy treatment.

Intervention: REFORM was a randomised controlled trial comparing remotely delivered physiotherapy with usual care provided in an outpatient setting.

Preferences and willingness to pay for early childhood healthy lifestyle initiative outcomes: A discrete choice experiment.

Background: Understanding stakeholder preferences and values for early childhood initiatives to support healthy diets, physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviour is key for effective intervention design and resource allocation. This study aims to estimate the preferences for and value of outcomes from the perspectives of parents/caregivers of Australian children aged from birth to 5 years.

Methods: Discrete choice experiment, 466 parent/caregivers recruited from online platform.

Horizontal transfer of nuclear DNA in transmissible cancer.

Horizontal transfer of nuclear DNA between cells of host and cancer is a potential source of adaptive variation in cancer cells. An understanding of the frequency and significance of this process in naturally occurring tumors is, however, lacking. We screened for this phenomenon in the transmissible cancers of dogs and Tasmanian devils and found an instance in the canine transmissible venereal tumor (CTVT).

Psychometric Evaluation of the Proxy-Reported Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory Generic Core Scales Across the Childhood Lifespan in Australian Children and Adolescents With Specified Health Conditions.

Objectives: Current generic childhood health-related quality-of-life instruments lack comprehensive psychometric evidence across all ages. The Pediatric Quality-of-Life Inventory v4.0 Generic Core Scales (PedsQL GCS) covers ages 2 to 18 years old, but evidence on its psychometric properties is limited to restricted age groups.

Insights from a codesigned dynamic modelling study of child and adolescent obesity in Australia.

Introduction: Child and adolescent obesity is associated with a range of immediate health issues and influences obesity in adulthood. The complex nature of health determinants that contribute to obesity makes it challenging to deliver effective public health interventions. This research presents insights from a system dynamics model of childhood and adolescent obesity aimed at supporting evidence-based decision-making.

Behavioural components and delivery features of early childhood obesity prevention interventions: intervention coding of studies in the TOPCHILD Collaboration systematic review.

Background: Early childhood obesity prevention interventions that aim to change parent/caregiver practices related to infant (milk) feeding, food provision and parent feeding, movement (including activity, sedentary behaviour) and/or sleep health (i.e. target parental behaviour domains) are diverse and heterogeneously reported.

Cost savings of reducing opioid prescribing for the treatment of people with low back pain in general practice: a modelling study.

Background: Low back pain (LBP) is the leading cause of disability worldwide. Contrary to clinical guidelines, opioids are frequently prescribed early in the management of LBP in primary care, leading to potential harm and downstream healthcare costs. The objective of this study was to model the one-year impacts of strategies that reduce opioid prescribing for low back pain (LBP) in primary care on healthcare costs and overdose deaths Australia-wide and explore the potential for such strategies to be cost-neutral.

Economic benefits of reducing childhood and adolescent overweight and obesity in Australia.

Objectives: The Australian Government, through the National Obesity Strategy 2022-2032, has set an aspirational goal of reducing the prevalence of childhood and adolescent overweight and obesity by 5% by 2030 (from 25% to 20%). Our objective was to quantify the long-term economic benefits of achieving this goal.

Methods: Using a microsimulation model and a synthetic cohort of Australian children and adolescents aged 4-17 years, we estimated the excess per capita lifetime costs of overweight and obesity.

The effects of duration of any breastfeeding on body mass index in Australian children: Exploration of health, economic and equity impacts.

Background: Breastfeeding is a protective measure against childhood overweight and obesity. However, many children are not breastfed the recommended duration, with those from disadvantaged backgrounds more likely to cease breastfeeding early.

Objectives: Investigate the association between duration of any breastfeeding and body mass index (BMI) and estimate the health, economic and equity impacts of increasing breastfeeding duration to at least 6 months.

Patients', physiotherapists' and other stakeholders' experiences and perceptions about supported home physiotherapy for people with musculoskeletal conditions: a qualitative study.

Objectives: Exercise, support and advice are the key treatment strategies of musculoskeletal problems. The aims of this study were to determine patients', physiotherapists', and other stakeholders' perspectives about supported home physiotherapy for the management of musculoskeletal problems and to identify the barriers and facilitators to rolling out this model of physiotherapy service delivery.

Methods: This study was conducted as part of a process evaluation run alongside a large trial designed to determine whether supported home physiotherapy is as good or better than a course of in-person physiotherapy.

Remotely delivered physiotherapy is as effective as face-to-face physiotherapy for musculoskeletal conditions (REFORM): a randomised trial.

Question: Is remotely delivered physiotherapy as good or better than face-to-face physiotherapy for the management of musculoskeletal conditions?

Design: Randomised controlled, non-inferiority trial with concealed allocation, blinded assessors and intention-to-treat analysis.

Participants: A total of 210 adult participants with a musculoskeletal condition who presented for outpatient physiotherapy at five public hospitals in Sydney.

Intervention: One group received a remotely delivered physiotherapy program for 6 weeks that consisted of one face-to-face physiotherapy session in conjunction with weekly text messages, phone calls at 2 and 4 weeks, and an individualised home exercise program delivered through an app.

Differences in weight status among Australian children and adolescents from priority populations: a longitudinal study.

Background And Significance: Australia has a high level of cultural and linguistic diversity, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Children from specific cultural and ethnic groups may be at greater risk of overweight and obesity and may bear the additional risk of socioeconomic disadvantage. Our aim was to identify differences in body-mass index z-score (zBMI) by: (1) Cultural and ethnic groups and; (2) Socioeconomic position (SEP), during childhood and adolescence.

Integrated Text Messaging (ITM) for people attending cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation: A multicentre randomised controlled trial.

Background: People living with cardiac and respiratory disease require improved post-hospital support that is readily available and efficient.

Objectives: To 1) test the effectiveness of an automated, semi-personalised text message support program on clinical and lifestyle outcomes amongst people attending cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation. Also, 2) to evaluate the program's acceptability and utility using patient-reported outcome and experience measures.

T-cell lymphoma involving the rectum of a dog.

A mediastinal mass was diagnosed in a 7-year-4-month-old neutered female mixed breed dog following a 3-week history of lethargy, hyporexia and pyrexia. Bi-cavitary imaging, needle aspirate cytology and flow cytometry confirmed WHO clinical stage IVb, intermediate to large T-cell lymphoma involving the mediastinum, liver and spleen. The dog initially responded to a multidrug chemotherapy protocol but clinical deterioration occurred 3 months later.

Psychometric Evaluation of the PedsQL GCS and CHU9D in Australian Children and Adolescents with Common Chronic Health Conditions.

Background: Generic instruments such as the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory™ v4.0 Generic Core Scales (PedsQL GCS) and Child Health Utility 9D (CHU9D) are widely used to assess health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of the general childhood population, but there is a paucity of information about their psychometric properties in children with specific health conditions. This study assessed psychometric properties, including acceptability, reliability, validity, and responsiveness, of the PedsQL GCS and the CHU9D in children and adolescents with a range of common chronic health problems.

Modelled Distributional Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Childhood Obesity Interventions: A Demonstration.

Objective: To demonstrate how distributional cost-effectiveness analyses of childhood obesity interventions could be conducted and presented for decision makers.

Methods: We conducted modelled distributional cost-effectiveness analyses of three obesity interventions in children: an infant sleep intervention (POI-Sleep), a combined infant sleep, food, activity and breastfeeding intervention (POI-Combo) and a clinician-led treatment for primary school-aged children with overweight and obesity (High Five for Kids). For each intervention, costs and socioeconomic position (SEP)-specific effect sizes were applied to an Australian child cohort (n = 4898).

Economic evaluation of a mobile phone text-message intervention for Australian adults with type 2 diabetes.

Background: The rising prevalence of type 2 diabetes in Australia is a public health concern, contributing to significant disease burden and economic costs. Text-message programs have been shown to improve health outcomes for people with type 2 diabetes, however they remain underutilized, and no evidence exists on their cost-effectiveness or costs of scale up to a population level in Australia. This study aimed to determine the cost-effectiveness and cost-utility of a 6-month text-message intervention (DTEXT) to improve glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and self-management behaviors for Australian adults with type 2 diabetes.

Twelve-month effectiveness of telephone and SMS support to mothers with children aged 2 years in reducing children's BMI: a randomized controlled trial.

Background/objectives: Few quality intervention studies have assessed whether a combined telephone and short message service (SMS) intervention to mothers is effective in reducing BMI and obesity risk behaviors of children at 3 years of age. This study aimed to assess effectiveness of telephone and SMS support in reducing children's body mass index (BMI) and obesity risk behaviors.

Subjects/methods: A randomized controlled trial (RCT) with 662 women of 2-year-old children (with the proportion of overweight and obesity being similar to the general population) was conducted in Sydney, Australia, March 2019-October 2020.

Reliability, acceptability, validity and responsiveness of the CHU9D and PedsQL in the measurement of quality of life in children and adolescents with overweight and obesity.

Background: The Paediatric Quality of life Inventory (PedsQL) Generic Core Scales and the Child Health Utilities 9 Dimensions (CHU9D) are two paediatric health-related quality of life (HRQoL) measures commonly used in overweight and obesity research. However, no studies have comprehensively established the psychometric properties of these instruments in the context of paediatric overweight and obesity. The aim of this study was to assess the reliability, acceptability, validity and responsiveness of the PedsQL and the CHU9D in the measurement of HRQoL among children and adolescents living with overweight and obesity.

Effectiveness and co-benefits of a telephone-based intervention in reducing obesity risk of children aged 2-4 years: findings from a pragmatic randomised controlled trial during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.

Background: Evidence of effective early childhood obesity prevention is scarce and mainly derived from face-to-face interventions. However, the COVID-19 pandemic drastically reduced face-to-face health programmes globally. This study assessed effectiveness of a telephone-based intervention in reducing obesity risk of young children.