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David W Sibbritt

Publications and source records attributed to David W Sibbritt.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Is there an association between the use of oral contraception and depressive symptoms in young Australian women?

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between oral contraceptive pill (OCP) use and the experience of depressive symptoms among a representative sample of young Australian women. METHODS: The study sample comes from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health. Analysis was confined to women in the youngest cohort who responded to Survey 2, which was conducted in 2000 (n=9688) when they were aged between 22 and 27 years, and to Survey 3, which was conducted in 2003 (n=9081) when they were aged between 25 and 30 years. RESULTS: After adjusting for potential confounders, the odds of a nonuser experiencing depressive symptoms is not significantly different from that of an OCP user [odds ratio=1.05; 95% confidence interval (95% CI)=0.90-1.21]. Women who used OCP for reasons other than contraception were 1.32 (95% CI=1.07-1.62) times as likely to be depressed than women who used OCP for contraception. The percentage of women who reported experiencing depressive symptoms declined as the number of years of OCP use increased (p=.009). CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study suggest that, after adjusting for confounders, there is no independent effect of OCP use on depressive symptoms in young Australian women.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Experiences of occupational violence in Australian urban general practice: a cross-sectional study of GPs.

OBJECTIVE: To establish the prevalence and characteristics of occupational violence in Australian urban general practice, and examine practitioner correlates of violence. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Cross-sectional questionnaire survey mailed to all members (n = 1085) of three urban divisions of general practice in New South Wales in August and September 2004. The three divisions were chosen to provide a range of socioeconomic status (SES) demographics. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Occupational violence towards general practitioners during the previous 12 months. RESULTS: 528 GPs returned questionnaires (49% response rate). Of these, 63.7% had experienced violence in the previous year. The most common forms of violence were "low level" violence - verbal abuse (42.1%), property damage/theft (28.6%) and threats (23.1%). A smaller proportion of GPs had experienced "high level" violence, such as sexual harassment (9.3%) and physical abuse (2.7%). On univariate analysis, violence was significantly more likely towards female GPs (P < 0.001), less experienced GPs (P = 0.003) and GPs working in a lower SES status area (P < 0.001), and among practice populations encompassing greater social disadvantage (P = 0.006), mental health problems (P < 0.001), and drug- and alcohol-related problems (P < 0.001). Experience of violence was greater for younger GPs (P = 0.005) and those providing after-hours care (P = 0.033 for after-hours home visits). On multivariate analysis, a significant association persisted between high level violence and lower SES area (odds ratio [OR], 2.86), being female (OR, 5.87), having practice populations with more drug-related problems (OR, 5.77), and providing home visits during business hours (OR, 4.76). More experienced GPs encountered less violence (OR, 0.77) for every additional 5 years of practice. CONCLUSION: Occupational violence is a considerable problem in Australian urban general practice. Formal education programs in preventing and managing violence would be appropriate for GPs and doctors-in-training.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Antioxidant restriction and oxidative stress in short-duration exhaustive exercise.

PURPOSE: To determine the effect of dietary antioxidant restriction on oxidative stress, antioxidant defenses, and exercise performance in athletes. Oxidative stress has been shown to increase during exercise. To alleviate oxidative stress, a high intake of antioxidant rich foods or supplements may be required in trained athletes. METHODS: Plasma oxidative stress and antioxidant defenses were examined in 17 trained athletes who underwent two separate exercise tests. Before the initial exercise test participants followed their habitual (high) antioxidant (H-AO) diets. Then they followed a 2-wk restricted-antioxidant (R-AO) diet before the second exercise test. Blood was taken at rest, after submaximal and high-intensity exhaustive exercise, and after 1 h of recovery. RESULTS: The R-AO diet induced a threefold reduction in antioxidant intake when compared with habitual-antioxidant (H-AO) diets. F(2)-isoprostane concentration (marker of oxidative stress) was significantly higher after submaximal exercise (38%), exhaustion (45%), and 1 h of recovery (31%) when following the R-AO diet compared with the H-AO diet. Rate of perceived exertion was increased on the R-AO diet whilst exercise time to exhaustion was not affected. Total antioxidant capacity and circulating antioxidant concentrations, although not significantly different, tended to be lower when following the R-AO diet. CONCLUSION: Athletes regularly participating in up to 40 min of acute high-intensity exercise may require higher intakes of exogenous antioxidants to defend against increased oxidative stress during exercise, which can be met through an adequate intake of high-antioxidant foods. Thus, there seems no valid reason to recommend antioxidant supplements to athletes participating in acute high-intensity exercise events up to 40 min in duration, except in those known to be consuming a low-antioxidant diet for prolonged periods.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Generating pre-test probabilities: a neglected area in clinical decision making.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the accuracy and variability of clinicians' estimates of pre-test probability for three common clinical scenarios. DESIGN: Postal questionnaire survey conducted between April and October 2001 eliciting pre-test probability estimates from scenarios for risk of ischaemic heart disease (IHD), deep vein thrombosis (DVT), and stroke. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: Physicians and general practitioners randomly drawn from College membership lists for New South Wales and north-west England. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Agreement with the "correct" estimate (being within 10, 20, 30, or > 30 percentage points of the "correct" estimate derived from validated clinical-decision rules); variability in estimates (median and interquartile ranges of estimates); and association of demographic, practice, or educational factors with accuracy (using linear regression analysis). RESULTS: 819 doctors participated: 310 GPs and 288 physicians in Australia, and 106 GPs and 115 physicians in the UK. Accuracy varied from about 55% of respondents being within 20% of the "correct" risk estimate for the IHD and stroke scenarios to 6.7% for the DVT scenario. Although median estimates varied between the UK and Australian participants, both were similar in accuracy and showed a similarly wide spread of estimates. No demographic, practice, or educational variables substantially predicted accuracy. CONCLUSIONS: Experienced clinicians, in response to the same clinical scenarios, gave a wide range of estimates for pre-test probability. The development and dissemination of clinical decision rules is needed to support decision making by practising clinicians.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

A longitudinal analysis of mid-age women's use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in Australia, 1996-1998.

Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) has become increasingly popular amongst healthcare consumers world-wide. As such, CAM is now an important public health issue with taking non-prescription medications. This paper constitutes an exploratory investigation into CAM use over time. As such, there is need for further research to provide in-depth examination of the adoption and relinquishment of CAM use over a longer time period. serious implications for healthcare organization and delivery. While previous studies have provided a profile of CAM users, there remains very limited analysis of CAM consumption over time. The purpose of this paper is to describe the changing use of CAM practitioners over time by 11,454 mid-age women in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health. Over the study period (1996-1998), 10% of women adopted the use of CAM and 9% relinquished CAM. The predominant factor found to be predictive of CAM adoption was changes in health status. Specifically, those women experiencing more illness over time are more likely to adopt CAM than those experiencing no change or better health. CAM relinquishment was associated with use of non-prescription medications, where women were more likely to relinquish CAM if they never used non-prescription medications or if they stopped.

Australia↗
PubMed2004

Sphygmomanometers--an audit in general practice.

BACKGROUND: The accuracy of sphygmomanometers used in Australian general practice is unknown but potentially important. METHOD: We measured the accuracy of sphygmomanometers in general practice in the Hunter region of New South Wales using a gold standard. Practices were recruited by an advertisement in the division newsletter. RESULTS: Sixty practices (35%) volunteered. A total of 404 instruments were checked. Over 95% of sphygmomanometers were within 4 mmHg of gold standard sphygmomanometer across the clinical pressure range. Mercury sphygmomanometers were more accurate than aneroid (p<0.01). There was no significant association between accuracy and age, calibration, or visual inspection of the instruments. DISCUSSION: This study demonstrated a high accuracy rate of the sphygmomanometers checked, especially those sphygmomanometers that were mercury.

Equipment Failure↗
PubMed2003

The profile of women who consult alternative health practitioners in Australia.

OBJECTIVES: To compare the characteristics of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) users and non-users among Australian women. DESIGN: Cross-sectional postal questionnaire conducted during 1996, forming the baseline survey of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health. PARTICIPANTS: Women aged 18-23 years (n = 14 779), 45-50 years (n = 14 099) and 70-75 years (n = 12 939), randomly selected from the Health Insurance Commission database, with over-sampling of women from rural and remote areas of Australia. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Consultation with an alternative health practitioner in the 12 months before the survey. RESULTS: Women in the mid-age cohort were more likely to have consulted an alternative health practitioner in the previous year (28%) than women in the younger cohort (19%) or older cohort (15%). In all age groups, CAM users were more likely than CAM non-users to reside in non-urban areas, to report poorer health, have more symptoms and illness, and be higher users of conventional health services. CONCLUSIONS: Women in non-urban Australia are more likely to use CAM but do so in in parallel with conventional health services.

Adolescent↗