The AIMSS Public Health Program strives to maintain and improve population health by leading multidisciplinary and collaborative research that is priority-driven and has a significant impact on national and international Public Health practice.
The AIMSS Public Health Program includes research that:
- Prevents disease, prolongs life and promotes health and wellbeing
- Has local, national and international impact
- Is significant and priority-driven
- Is multidisciplinary and collaborative in nature
- Supports emerging researchers to succeed and become leaders in their research fields
Linked PhD Projects:
Maximising Recovery of Health-Related Quality of Life Following Major Osteoporotic Fracture: A Focus on Health Care Pathways
Jason Talevski
Fragility fractures are the most severe clinical outcome of osteoporosis and lead to limitations in physical functioning, increased risk of mortality, and reduced health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Post-fracture health care pathways were developed to improve the care of older patients following a fracture by guiding healthcare professionals with evidence-based treatment recommendations in accordance with clinical guidelines. Previous studies report consistent benefits of post-fracture care pathways for older people including elevated treatment rates, decreases in subsequent fractures, and decreased rates in long-term mortality. However, the benefits on patient-reported outcomes such as HRQoL is not well established, particularly for non-hip fracture sites. The overarching aim of this thesis is to enhance the evidence-base of post-fracture care pathways for the optimal recovery of HRQoL.
This thesis includes five interrelated research components: 1) a meta-analysis to investigate the effect of existing post-fracture care pathways on HRQoL and physical function compared to usual care; 2) a before and after study to evaluate the effect of an electronic care pathway on patient outcomes compared to a traditional paper-based care pathway; 3) a series of analyses using data from a multinational observational study – the International Costs and Utilities Related to Osteoporotic Fractures Study (ICUROS) – to identify distinct, multidisciplinary care pathways associated with recovery of HRQoL post-fracture; 4) a micro-costing study to estimate the cost per patient of each post[1]fracture care pathway identified; and 5) a data linkage study to investigate the association ii between HRQoL recovery 12-months post-fracture and 5-year mortality using data from the Australian arm of ICUROS (the AusICUROS study). Existing post-fracture care pathways result in short and long-term improvements for both HRQoL and physical function in hip fracture patients, however there is an insufficient number of non-hip fracture studies to establish the same conclusions.
Understanding the role of vitamin D in falls and fractures prevention: the development and validation of a self-reported prediction tool
Ghazala Naureen
This thesis explores the association between serum 25(OH)D levels, physical function parameters and incident falls in women aged ≥70yrs using existing data. A systematic review of vitamin D prediction models and questionnaires was conducted, which then informed subsequent analyses using existing cross-sectional data from four Australian-based cohorts (pooled) to identify self-reported risk factors for vitamin D deficiency and to develop and validate a vitamin D deficiency prediction model for Australians ≥50yrs using self-reported risk factors for vitamin D deficiency.
