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The primary objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence of late language emergence (LLE) and to investigate the predictive status of maternal...

Research

Pneumonia remains a leading cause of hospitalization and death among young children worldwide, and the diagnostic challenge of differentiating bacterial from non-bacterial pneumonia is the main driver of antibiotic use for treating pneumonia in children. Causal Bayesian networks (BNs) serve as powerful tools for this problem as they provide clear maps of probabilistic relationships between variables and produce results in an explainable way by incorporating both domain expert knowledge and numerical data.

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To investigate temporal trends in admission rates for acute lower respiratory infections (ALRI) in a total population birth cohort of non-Aboriginal and...

Research

The need for coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination in different age groups and populations is a subject of great uncertainty and an ongoing global debate. Critical knowledge gaps regarding COVID-19 vaccination include the duration of protection offered by different priming and booster vaccination regimens in different populations, including homologous or heterologous schedules.

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Vaccination of young teenage females against human papillomavirus (HPV) with a newly licenced quadrivalent vaccine designed to prevent cervical cancer and...

Research

Australian Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children in rural/remote areas suffer high rates of persistent otitis media (OM) from early infancy. We aimed to determine the proportion of Aboriginal infants living in an urban area who have OM and investigate associated risk factors.

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We aimed to assess the direct protective effect of 13 valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (13vPCV) against invasive pneumococcal pneumonia (IPP; including pneumonia and empyema) in children using a nation-wide case-control study across 11 paediatric tertiary hospitals in Australia.

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Children with chronic medical conditions are at higher risk of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD), but little is known about the effectiveness of the primary course of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) in these children.

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Children typically experience more mild symptoms of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) when compared to adults. There is a strong body of evidence that children are also less susceptible to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection with the ancestral viral isolate.

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Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and influenza are important causes of disease in children and adults. In Australia, information on the burden of RSV in adults is particularly limited.

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Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the most common cause of acute lower respiratory infection in young children. We previously estimated that in 2015, 33·1 million episodes of RSV-associated acute lower respiratory infection occurred in children aged 0-60 months, resulting in a total of 118 200 deaths worldwide.

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Group A β-haemolytic Streptococcus (GAS), a Gram-positive bacterium, causes skin, mucosal and systemic infections. Repeated GAS infections can lead to autoimmune diseases acute rheumatic fever (ARF) and rheumatic heart disease (RHD). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia have the highest rates of ARF and RHD in the world.

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A new study has confirmed the changing pattern of meningococcal disease in Western Australia.

Research

Family planning counselling at different contact points of maternal health services has been recommended for increasing the uptake of modern contraceptive methods. However, studies from sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) demonstrated inconsistent findings. The aim of this systematic review was to synthesise the available current evidence for the association between family planning counselling and postpartum modern contraceptive uptake in SSA.

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This study described the rehabilitation services accessed by children with stroke following acute admission to two Australian paediatric tertiary hospitals prior to the implementation of clinical practice guidelines. It also evaluated quality-of-care indicators for inpatient rehabilitation within these two settings.

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Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of mortality and are among the foremost causes of disability globally. CVD burden has continued to increase in most countries since 1990, with trends driven by changing exposures to harmful risk factors, population growth, and population aging.

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Gram-negative bacterial infections remain a major cause of morbidity and mortality in children and neonates globally, compounded by the rise of antimicrobial resistance. Barriers to paediatric antibiotic licencing lead to reduced availability of potentially effective agents for treatment. For children and neonates in the Oceania region, specific challenges remain including a paucity of surveillance data on local rates of antimicrobial resistance, and lack of availability of newer, more costly agents.

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Influenza vaccines are important for reducing the burden of influenza, particularly for populations at risk of more severe infections. Obesity is associated with increased influenza severity and therefore individuals with obesity are often specifically recommended for annual influenza vaccination. Obesity is also associated with an altered inflammatory profile, which may influence vaccine responses. This systematic review aimed to evaluate the evidence for any association between obesity and influenza vaccine immunogenicity.

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Remote-living Aboriginal children in Australia contend with higher rates of skin infections than non-Indigenous children. This work was embedded within a stepped-wedge, cluster randomised controlled trial aiming to halve the rate of skin infections in remote Kimberley communities. It outlines and reflects upon the co-development of a health promotion resource in partnership with the East Kimberley community of Warmun, whilst understanding community perceptions of its impact.

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This study evaluated the association between insulin regimen, hospitalization for acute diabetes complications, and related health care costs in children with type 1 diabetes (T1D). Hospital admissions for diabetic ketoacidosis or hypoglycemia between January 5, 2022, and April 30, 2024, were analyzed in Western Australian children with T1D. Admissions due to newly diagnosed T1D were excluded. Incidence rate ratios were calculated using generalized estimating equations, adjusted for age, diabetes duration, and socioeconomic status.