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Biomedical subjects

D M Roder

Publications and source records attributed to D M Roder.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1992

Accuracy of asthma statistics from death certificates in South Australia.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the accuracy of asthma statistics from death certificates in South Australia. DESIGN: Comparison of death certificate coding with expert panel assessments of causes of death after interviews with certifying doctors, regular medical practitioners and close acquaintances of the deceased. SUBJECTS: 261 subjects for whom the term "asthma", "asthmatic" or "asthmaticus" was recorded in Part I or Part II of death certificates lodged in the 24-month period from May 1988. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Sensitivity, specificity and predictive value of death certificate coding, with expert panel assessments as the reference standard. RESULTS: About 95% of deaths assessed as definitely due to asthma were so coded from death certificates, but only 69% of deaths assessed by the panel as not due to asthma were coded to a "non-asthmatic" cause. Of the 129 deaths coded to asthma, the percentage assessed as definitely or likely to be due to asthma was 56%. For ages under 65 years, this figure was 84% compared with only 38% for older subjects. CONCLUSION: The accuracy of death certificate data on asthma for the age group 65 years and over would be too low at present for most epidemiological purposes.

Abstracting and Indexing↗
PubMed1989

Lung cancer in Australia.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of death of cancer in Australian men and the third leading cause in Australian women. Efforts are being made to reduce the incidence of this disease by smoking-cessation programmes and improved industrial hygiene, and these measures need to be encouraged strongly by all sectors of the community. On a population basis, insufficient evidence is available to justify screening procedures for the early detection of lung cancer in "at-risk" groups. Cure is possible by surgical resection in early cases. Improvements in therapeutic results with traditional cancer treatments largely have reached a plateau, but a number of newer therapies, and combinations of standard therapies, currently are being evaluated. Of particular interest is concurrent radiotherapy and chemotherapy in localized non-small-cell lung cancer; laser "debulking" in conjunction with radiotherapy in non-small-cell lung cancer, and biological response-modifying agents in non-small-cell and small-cell lung cancer. It is important that data be collected adequately to define epidemiological changes and to evaluate treatment results (including repeat bronchoscopy, to assess local control of tumour), and that the quality of life is recorded and reported in the evaluation process. Finally, phase-III studies in lung-cancer treatments require adequate numbers of subjects to enable meaningful conclusions to be achieve objectives within a reasonable study period.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Blood lead levels in children in the north-west of Adelaide.

Capillary blood lead levels were investigated in a sample of 513 children of preschool age who were drawn from an industrial working-class region of Adelaide. The geometric mean lead level was 16.3 micrograms/dL. Fourteen children (2.7%) had a blood lead level of at least 30 micrograms/dL, which is designated by the National Health and Medical Research Council as "the level of concern". Boys tended to have higher lead levels than did girls, and children who lived closer to the inner city generally had higher levels than did those who lived further away. Compared with most other Australian findings, the blood lead levels in this study tended to be high. We suspect that the age groups that were studied, and the industrial urban quality of the region that was included, would have had an important bearing on this finding. However, the proportion of children with elevated lead levels in this study did not seem high when compared with US data for children in a comparable age range.

Australia↗
PubMed1985

Mortality from influenza and allied infections in South Australia during 1968-1981.

Numbers of deaths from pneumonia and influenza and other causes were analysed for successive four-week periods in South Australia during 1968-1981. An overall excess in deaths from pneumonia or influenza of 74% was evident during the winter months and early spring, compared with summer and early autumn. An accompanying excess of 18% occurred for deaths assigned to other causes. There was a strong association between numbers of deaths from pneumonia and influenza and other deaths, suggesting that influenza may have a broad impact on mortality. This mostly applied to individuals aged 60 years and over. There is the need for medical practitioners to provide prophylactic care to protect aged patients against the effects of influenza. This should be done in autumn, and special attention should be given to individuals with underlying conditions.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

Determinants of the microbiological characteristics of South Australian swimming pools.

A survey of 100 swimming pools has been conducted to assess the effectiveness of disinfection practices against various microorganisms and to check compliance with recommended chlorine levels and pH. Microbiological quality was assessed from densities of total coliforms, Escherichia coli, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, total colony counts, and the presence or absence of amoebae, including the pathogen Naegleria fowleri. Although a free chlorine residual of 1.0 mg/liter and a pH range of 7.0 to 7.6 are recommended by local health authorities, 41 pools had a lower free chlorine residual and 37 had a pH outside this range. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to test the association of field measurements with the microbiological data. The analysis demonstrated a strong positive association of free chlorine with bacteriological quality and the absence of Naegleria spp. No other field measurement was predictive in this regard, although the absence of all amoebae was associated with a relatively low water temperature and pH. Using a mathematical model derived from this analysis, it was estimated that 99% of pools would have acceptable bacteriological quality and 94% would be free of Naegleria spp. at a free chlorine residual of 1.0 mg/liter. However, at the mean water temperature (23 degrees C) and pH (7.5) seen in this study, other amoebae would still be detectable in 500-ml samples taken from 40% of pools at this chlorine level.

Amoeba↗
PubMed1983

A comparison of Australian suicide rates in 1969-73 and 1976-80.

Australian suicide rates were compared for the 1969-73 and 1976-80 periods by age, sex and State. Rates for males were generally at least twice those for females. The sex difference was marked, irrespective of age, State and time period. Middle-aged and older Australians generally had higher rates than 20-29-year-olds, although this finding was not consistent by State for males. The national age-standardised suicide rate for all age groups combined decreased between the 1969-73 period and 1976-80 both for males and (more so) for females. However, there was a 24% increase for 20-29-year-old males. While the suicide rate for 20-29-year-old females decreased between the 1969-73 period and 1976-80, an analysis of yearly trends within the 1976-80 period revealed an upward trend for individuals aged 20-29 years, for both females and males.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1982

Survival of South Australian cancer patients: a study of the State's Cancer Registry data.

Survival rates for cancer patients derived from population-based data are a fundamental means of monitoring the effectiveness of treatment for the community at large. We used South Australian Cancer Registry data to study survival by cancer site from date of diagnosis in 1977-79 to August 1980. One-year and two-year cumulative percentage survival rates for all types of invasive cancer were 64% (+/- 0.5%) and 54% (+/- 0.5%) respectively. We anticipate that these findings will provide a yardstick for intra-hospital survival analyses.

Australia↗
PubMed1980

Fluoridation 1. Effects on children's caries rates and professionally defined requirements for dental care.

In 1977, after six years of fluoridation in South Australia, 337 six year-olds with continuous fluoride-drinking-water histories had DMFT values 53.2 per cent lower and df values 48.5 per cent lower than base-line values. For five to six year-olds presenting for follow-up care in the School Dental Service in 1977, continuous intake of fluoridated water evidently had reduced: (1) the number of teeth needing restorations by 40.0 per cent; (2) the total care items required by 32.6 per cent; (3) the total time required for care by 37.5 per cent; and (4) the fee-for-service value of care required by 34.3 per cent.

Australia↗
PubMed1980

The dental health status of children not included by parents in the South Australian School Dental Programme. A pilot study.

About 90 per cent of children have received school dental care at South Australian schools where this care has been available. However, following recent extension of the dental programme to metropolitan schools without clinics located in their grounds, lower participation rates of about 74 per cent have emerged. A pilot study of 161 children not included in the school dental programme at 13 of these metropolitan schools without clinics was conducted to evaluate their dental health status and determine why they were not enrolled for school dental care.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Assessing the effectiveness of dental health education in the South Australian School Dental Programme.

Approximately 25--30 per cent of operational time in the School Dental Programme is assigned to dental health education, representing a sizeable investment of public resources. If the full potential of dental health education is to be realized, the respective effectiveness of various dental health education activities need to be identified so that the more effective activities can be emphasized and developed further. As an essential prerequisite there is a need to refine the evaluation process by introducing: (1) improved dental indices; (2) improved methods of classifying and maintaining records of the dental health education activities undertaken; (3) better methods of quantifying dental care items and other social and environmental covariables; and (4) more sophisticated forms of multivariate analysis.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1978

Saliva-based colorimetric test as an index of gingival inflammation in epidemiologic studies.

There is a pressing need for a reliable, low-cost method of assessing the gingival and periodontal status of large population groups. Existing indexes, despite their value in dental public health, are still too subject to examiner variability for use by uncalibrated examiners. This study describes an evaluation of a quick, inexpensive, extraoral colorimetric test for gingival inflammation, based on a reaction between saliva and the test material. It could probably be applied by non-professional personnel. In this study, the test was applied to a population of elementary schoolchildren, dental hygiene students and faculty, and adult inmates of two correctional institutions. These populations were chosen on the assumption that they would exhibit varying intensities of gingival inflammation. Values obtained from the colorimetric test carried out by one researcher were compared with Gingival Index (GI) scores observed by a different examiner. Results suggest that the colorimetric test may be a valid, reliable means of detecting major differences in the prevalence of gingival inflammation in most adult populations, although having little, if any, useful application among children at the mixed dentition stage.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1976

The effect of treatment provided by dentists and therapists in the South Australian school dental service. The second report.

A survey of over 2,000 second year high school students at 13 South Australian schools indicated that those who had received school dental care at primary school had fewer carious teeth and, in some respects, better oral hygiene habits. Whilst they were better informed on dental subjects than were control students, fewer had attended a private dentist since leaving primary school.

Adolescent↗