Sally and Adele would like to wish you a very merry Christmas and here's to a peaceful and prosperous 2015. We are taking a couple of weeks off now to relax and spend time with our families, but will be back in mid-January to keep you up to date with reports, tools and news in health as they come to hand. Thank you for making HealthInfo Blog so successful for another year, and remember, we love to hear your feedback and suggestions.
Always a good read in December is the BMJ special Christmas issue. This year is no exception with a series of "studies" such as the most common reasons why swimmers abandon their English Channel attempts, the 'male idiot' theory, and evidence for the superiority of the orthopaedic surgeon. There is also an analysis of the recent crop of diet books, a discussion about the armchair socialist, and accounts of medical eponyms and acronyms.
This AIHW report presents the latest available information on national
population screening programs, cancer incidence, hospitalisations, survival,
prevalence and mortality. It is estimated that the most commonly diagnosed
cancers in 2014 will be prostate cancer, colorectal cancer and breast cancer
(excluding basal and squamous cell carcinoma of the skin, as these cancers are
not notifiable diseases in Australia). For all cancers combined, the incidence
rate is expected to increase by 22% from 1982 to 2014, but the mortality rate
is estimated to decrease by 20%. 
Surf Life Saving Australia has published its annual report on the safety of Australia's coastlines. The National Coastal Safety Report 2014 estimates that there are 100 million visitations to our coastlines every year and it can be a hazardous environment, especially to the uninformed or unprepared visitor.
The Global Asthma Network has released their Global Asthma Report 2014, providing the latest information on this condition world-wide, including outlining where the gaps are in knowledge and making recommendations to authorities.
This Snapshop from AIHW looks at the existing health patterns, populations at
risk of illness, current health service use, and future demands on the health
and welfare systems.
Another relevant paper is "Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders: Current issues in awareness, prevention and intervention", by Sara McLean and Stewart McDougall. CFCA Paper No. 29, December 2014
Australians can now expect to enjoy longer lives with more years free of
disability, according to a report released by the Australian Institute of
Health and Welfare (AIHW).
The Australian Commission on
Safety and Quality in Health Care has released three resources to guide health
service managers, clinicians and consumers in improving care of people with
cognitive impairment in hospital.
Bacteria can develop resistance to specific antibiotics, meaning that the antibiotic
is no longer effective against those bacteria. The inappropriate use of
antibiotics has increased the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, not
only in hospitals and healthcare facilities but also in the community. Antibiotic
resistance poses a significant threat to public health because antibiotics
underpin routine clinical practice in a variety of healthcare settings. 
A special edition of the Australian Journal of Primary Health focuses on Health Promotion in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities. Authors Kerry Arabena, Kevin Rowley and Sarah MacLean look at these communities and the importance of family and the natural world. They discuss building capacity within their organisations and changing
the way mainstream communities interact with Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander peoples. A clear message is
that for too long Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have been
described as having problems that are too big and complex to be solved within
communities themselves bu now we are changing the collective story from one of deficit, to one of strength and
resilience.
NPS MedicineWise have developed a free app for an iPhone or Android smartphone, where patients can store a list of their medications. 
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in the UK, regularly publish Evidence Updates on their website, which summarise new evidence on various clinical subjects, highlighting key points and commenting on the strengths and weaknesses of the new and old evidence.
Get it right! Taking a best possible medication history is an online learning module aimed at junior medical officers, nursing and pharmacy staff for admitting patients to hospital. Obtaining an accurate medication history (known as a best possible medication history or BPMH, is the first step in the medication reconciliation process and helps with making therapeutic decisions.
This AIHW report describes deaths in the Australian population as a result of three chronic conditions, singly or in combination. Cardiovascular disease, diabetes and chronic kidney disease: Australian facts: mortality reports that in 2011, these three diseases together were the underlying cause of almost 53,000 deaths - 36% of all deaths. Overall 61% of all deaths had at least one of these
diseases recorded as an underlying or associated cause of death. CVD was the underlying cause of 45,622 deaths, 31% of all deaths. CHD
accounted for 47% of CVD deaths, followed by stroke (19%). CVD contributed to
56% of all deaths.
CareSearch Palliative Care Knowledge Network has just released a new feature on their website called My Information Kit. This site allows health professionals to select relevant factsheets which have been compiled by CareSearch, the Australian Centre for Grief and Bereavement, Palliative Care Australia and Carers NSW, for printing or emailing to patients and carers. There is provision for a cover sheet to be attached including your name and contact details.
This report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reveals that there were over 19,700 presentations per day in public hospital emergency departments in 2013-14 - an increase of 7.2% from the previous year. 75% of patients were "seen on time", with NSW hospitals performing best at 81%. Nationally, the proportion of emergency department visits complete in 4 hours or less increased from 64% to 73% since the last report. In NSW that figure increased from 60% to 74% over the past two years. 29% of emergency department patients were admitted to hospital after
their ED care.
This paper by John Bale and published by the Australian Army seeks to identify the nature of the stigma attached to
Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other mental health conditions in the
Australian Army. It also looks at the negative implications of such a stigma on the
individual, the workplace and the Army as a whole.
Obesity-related stigma can influence how obese people interact with
health-care professionals and access health care. The aim of this article was to undertake a synthesis of studies examining the views and experiences of both
obese people in relation to their health-care provision and health-care
professionals in providing care to obese patients.
The journal Reproductive Health has published a series of articles on preconception care. The importance of public health interventions during the preconceptional period on
maternal and child health is recognized. "The reviews highlight our current understanding (or lack thereof) regarding how
both maternal and paternal preconception health and knowledge shapes the
long-term health of not only children, but of families, communities, and
nations."
The Mental Health Services-Census Data Integration project brings
together data from the 2011 Census with
administrative information on people accessing subsidised mental health-related
Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) services and Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme
(PBS) prescription medication.
In a comprehensive report from QualityWatch in the UK, researchers examined the role and quality of care of allied health professionals in the NHS. Allied health professionals: Can we measure quality of care? looks at a diverse group of 12 professions who often work across mulidisciplinary teams and across sectors of care. 
Diet sodas and other treats sweetened with artificial sweeteners are often
viewed as guilt-free pleasures. Because such foods are usually lower in calories
than those containing natural sugars, many have considered them a good option
for people who are trying to lose weight or keep their blood glucose levels in
check. But some surprising new research suggests that artificial sweeteners
might actually do the opposite, by changing the microbes living in our
intestines. 
Waiting times for elective surgery in Australian public hospitals have
remained relatively stable between 2012-13 and 2013-14, according to a report
released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). The report, Australian hospital statistics 2013-14: elective surgery waiting times, shows that national admissions for elective surgery
increased by 4.2% between 2012-13 and 2013-14.
A recent study in Canada looked at a newly developed Yoga Program for women with disability after breast cancer. Significant gaps remain in our understanding of pain, range of motion
restrictions, and lymphoedema and their potentially disabling impact on women's
everyday lives in relation to arm disability. Often lymphoedema is the main consideration for women, however through the course it was found that pain and range of motion restrictions are often more prevalent and continue to effect everyday life. It was also found that the emotional burden of this illness is not only significant but also
underexplored, particularly with respect to the development of supportive
interventions.
The International Federation on Ageing has published Companion animals and the health of older persons as one response to the projected costs associated with caring for ageing populations. A literature review examined the relationship of older people living both independently and in long-term care facilities, including dementia sufferers and people with a mental illness, with their pets. The study focused on the physical, mental, emotional and social health of these people, as well as the role of animals in their perceptions of inclusion in their community. The economic impact of animals interacting with older people was also examined and some promising initiatives explored, including one in Victoria and one in NSW. It was acknowledged that research on this topic has been very limited.
Continuing the theme of palliative care and dying, this consensus report has just been published by the US Institute of Medicine. Dying in America: Improving quality and honoring individual preferences near the end of life argues that improving palliative care services not only enhances the quality of life of the patient, but could be more economically sustainable. 
The Grattan Institute has published Dying Well, a report by Hal Swerissen and Stephen Duckett about how we die in Australia. According to the report, 70% of Australians would like to die at home, but only 14% actually do so. About 50% die in hospital and a third in residential care. Dying in Australia is more institutionalised than most other countries and this is linked to medical and community attitudes as well as a lack of funding for home-based care.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has published this annual report about services available to Australians in palliative care, and changes over time. There were over 57 600 palliative care related separations from public and private hospitals in 2011-12 and almost $4.7 million MBS payments were made for palliative medicine specialist services in 2012-13.
Alzheimer's Disease International has published World Alzheimer Report 2014, Dementia and Risk Reduction: An analysis of protective and modifiable factors, which examines the evidence for the existence of modifiable risk factors
for dementia in four
key domains: developmental, psychological and psychosocial, lifestyle and
cardiovascular conditions. The report makes recommendations to drive public
health campaigns and disease prevention strategies.
Dementia was the topic on a recent episode of Big Ideas on ABC radio. It is estimated that 332,000 Australians suffer from dementia, and this is likely to triple over the next forty ears unless a cure is found. The costs to our health system are enormous and much research is going into Alzheimer's Disease, but can we prevent or cure this disease?
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has released four new reports on maternity, available for download from the links below:
