Lung function: normal for New Zealand?
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Ethnicity↗
Biomedical subjects
Joanne Baxter
Publications and source records attributed to Joanne Baxter.
The Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study: are its findings consistent with the overall New Zealand population?
AIMS: To compare the health of the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study members with people of the same age in the nationally representative New Zealand Health and National Nutrition Surveys. METHOD: Where similar information was obtained, means or proportions and confidence intervals were generated for both the age 26 assessment of the Dunedin sample and for the 25-26 year old participants in the national surveys. The populations were considered to differ when confidence intervals did not overlap. RESULTS: For smoking habit, body mass index, waist-hip ratio, general practitioner and medical specialist consultations, and hospital admissions, the findings of the Dunedin Study were not significantly different to the nationally representative surveys. The Dunedin Study members also did not differ from their national counterparts on SF-36 subscales measuring physical functioning, bodily pain, general health, vitality, and mental health. They had better scores on the three interference subscales of the SF-36 compared to the national sample, and men in the Dunedin Study spent a little more time doing vigorous physical activity. DISCUSSION: For most outcomes, the Dunedin Study members were very similar to the nationally representative samples. There was little evidence that the repeated assessments in the Dunedin Study had significantly altered the Study members' health, either in terms of responses to questionnaires or on physiological measures of health status. Findings from the Dunedin Study are likely to be generalisable to most young New Zealanders. However, the Dunedin Study is under-representative of Maori and Pacific peoples, so these findings need to be interpreted with caution in this context. Implications for the proposed national Longitudinal Study of New Zealand Children and Families are discussed.
Adult↗
The current and future applications of microorganism in the bioremediation of cyanide contamination.
Inorganic cyanide and nitrile compounds are distributed widely in the environment, chiefly as a result of anthropogenic activity but also through cyanide synthesis by a range of organisms including higher plants, fungi and bacteria. The major source of cyanide in soil and water is through the discharge of effluents containing a variety of inorganic cyanide and nitriles. Here the fate of cyanide compounds in soil and water is reviewed, identifying those factors that affect their persistence and which determine whether they are amenable to biological degradation. The exploitation of cyanides by a variety of taxa, as a mechanism to avoid predation or to inhibit competitors has led to the evolution in many organisms of enzymes that catalyse degradation of a range of cyanide compounds. Microorganisms expressing pathways involved in cyanide degradation are briefly reviewed and the current applications of bacteria and fungi in the biodegradation of cyanide contamination in the field are discussed. Finally, recent advances that offer an insight into the potential of microbial systems for the bioremediation of cyanide compounds under a range of environmental conditions are identified, and the future potential of these technologies for the treatment of cyanide pollution is discussed.
Bacteria↗
Te Rau Hinengaro: the New Zealand Mental Health Survey: overview of methods and findings.
OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence and severity of anxiety, mood, substance and eating disorders in New Zealand, and associated disability and treatment. METHOD: A nationwide face-to-face household survey of residents aged 16 years and over was undertaken between 2003 and 2004. Lay interviewers administered a computerized fully structured diagnostic interview, the World Health Organization World Mental Health Survey Initiative version of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Oversampling doubled the number of Māori and quadrupled the number of Pacific people. The outcomes reported are demographics, period prevalences, 12 month severity and correlates of disorder, and contact with the health sector, within the past 12 months. RESULTS: The response rate was 73.3%. There were 12,992 participants (2,595 Māori and 2,236 Pacific people). Period prevalences were as follows: 39.5% had met criteria for a DSM-IV mental disorder at any time in their life before interview, 20.7% had experienced disorder within the past 12 months and 11.6% within the past month. In the past 12 months, 4.7% of the population experienced serious disorder, 9.4% moderate disorder and 6.6% mild disorder. A visit for mental health problems was made to the health-care sector in the past 12 months by 58.0% of those with serious disorder, 36.5% with moderate disorder, 18.5% with mild disorder and 5.7% of those not diagnosed with a disorder. The prevalence of disorder and of serious disorder was higher for younger people and people with less education or lower household income. In contrast, these correlates had little relationship to treatment contact, after adjustment for severity. Compared with the composite Others group, Māori and Pacific people had higher prevalences of disorder, unadjusted for sociodemographic correlates, and were less likely to make treatment contact, in relation to need. CONCLUSIONS: Mental disorder is common in New Zealand. Many people with current disorder are not receiving treatment, even among those with serious disorder.
Algorithms↗
Prevalence, interference with life and severity of 12 month DSM-IV disorders in Te Rau Hinengaro: the New Zealand Mental Health Survey.
OBJECTIVE: To estimate the 12 month prevalence of DSM-IV disorders in New Zealand, and associated interference with life and severity. METHOD: A nationally representative face-to-face household survey carried out in 2003-2004. A fully structured diagnostic interview, the World Health Organization World Mental Health Survey Initiative version of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI 3.0) was used. There were 12,992 completed interviews from participants aged 16 years and over. The overall response rate was 73.3%. In this paper the outcomes reported are 12 month prevalence, interference with life and severity for individual disorders. RESULTS: The prevalence of any disorder in the past 12 months was 20.7%. The prevalences for disorder groups were: anxiety disorders 14.8%, mood disorders 7.9%, substance use disorders 3.5%, eating disorders 0.5%. The highest prevalences for individual disorders were for specific phobia (7.3%), major depressive disorder (5.7%) and social phobia (5.1%). Interference with life was higher for mood disorders than for anxiety disorders. Drug dependence, bipolar disorder and dysthymia had the highest proportion of severe cases (over 50%), when severity was assessed over the disorder itself and all comorbid disorders. Overall, only 31.7% of cases were classified as mild with 45.6% moderate and 22.7% serious. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with other World Mental Health survey sites New Zealand has relatively high prevalences, although almost always a little lower than for the US. For all disorders, except specific phobia, interference with life was reported to be moderate, on average, which has lead to less than a third of cases being classified as mild. Most people who have ever met full DSM-IV criteria, including the impairment criterion, and who experience symptoms or an episode in the past 12 months find that their disorders impact on their lives to a non-trivial extent.
Catchment Area, Health↗
Ethnic comparisons of the 12 month prevalence of mental disorders and treatment contact in Te Rau Hinengaro: the New Zealand Mental Health Survey.
OBJECTIVE: To compare ethnic groups for the 12 month prevalence of mental disorders and 12 month treatment contact in Te Rau Hinengaro: The New Zealand Mental Health Survey. METHOD: Te Rau Hinengaro: The New Zealand Mental Health Survey, undertaken in 2003 and 2004, was a nationally representative face-to-face household survey of 12,992 New Zealand adults aged 16 years and over, including Māori (n = 2595), Pacific people (n = 2236) and a composite Other ethnic group (predominantly European) (n = 8161). Ethnicity was measured using the 2001 census ethnicity question. A fully structured diagnostic interview, the World Health Organization World Mental Health Survey Initiative version of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI 3.0) was used to measure disorder. The overall response rate was 73.3%. RESULTS: The 12 month prevalence of any mental disorder was highest in Māori (29.5%; 26.6, 32.4), followed by Pacific people (24.4%; 21.2, 27.6) and Others (19.3%; 18.0, 20.6). Adjustment for age, sex, education and household income reduced differences: Māori (23.9%; 21.3, 26.4), Pacific (19.2%; 16.4, 22.1) and Other (20.3%; 18.9, 21.6). A similar pattern was seen for serious disorder and most individual disorders or disorder groups. After adjustment, Māori were most different from Pacific people and Others for substance use disorder. Both Māori and Pacific people had a higher prevalence of bipolar disorder than Others. Pacific people had the lowest prevalence of major depressive disorder. Among those with disorder, the proportion with a visit for mental health problems to any service was highest among Others (41.1%; 38.1, 44.1), with Māori (32.5%; 28.3, 36.7) intermediate and Pacific (25.4%, 19.4, 31.4) lowest. Adjustment did not alter ethnic differences in service contact. CONCLUSION: Māori, and to a lesser extent Pacific people, have a higher prevalence of 12 month mental disorders than Others. Differences are reduced after adjusting for sociodemographic correlates. Relative to need, Pacific people in particular and Māori are less likely than Others to have contact with services (health or non-health), regardless of sociodemographic circumstances.
Adolescent↗
Prevalence of mental disorders among Māori in Te Rau Hinengaro: the New Zealand Mental Health Survey.
OBJECTIVE: To describe the prevalence of mental disorders (period prevalence across aggregated disorders, 12 month and lifetime prevalence) among Māori in Te Rau Hinengaro: The New Zealand Mental Health Survey. METHOD: Te Rau Hinengaro: The New Zealand Mental Health Survey, undertaken between 2003 and 2004, was a nationally representative face-to-face household survey of 12,992 New Zealand adults aged 16 years and over, including 2,595 Māori. Ethnicity was measured using the 2001 New Zealand census ethnicity question. A fully structured diagnostic interview, the World Health Organization World Mental Health Survey Initiative version of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI 3.0), was used to measure disorder. The overall response rate was 73.3%. This paper presents selected findings for the level and pattern of mental disorder prevalence among Māori. RESULTS: Māori lifetime prevalence of any disorder was 50.7%, 12 month prevalence 29.5% and 1 month prevalence 18.3%. The most common 12 month disorders were anxiety (19.4%), mood (11.4%) and substance (8.6%) disorders and the most common lifetime disorders were anxiety (31.3%), substance (26.5%) and mood (24.3%) disorders. Levels of lifetime comorbidity were high with 12 month prevalence showing 16.4% of Māori with one disorder, 7.6% with two disorders and 5.5% with three or more disorders. Twelve-month disorders were more common in Māori females than in males (33.6%vs 24.8%) and in younger age groups: 16-24 years, 33.2%; 25-44 years, 32.9%; 45-64 years, 23.7%; and 65 years and over, 7.9%. Disorder prevalence was greatest among Māori with the lowest equivalized household income and least education. However, differences by urbanicity and region were not significant. Of Māori with any 12 month disorder, 29.6% had serious, 42.6% had moderate and 27.8% had mild disorders. CONCLUSION: Mental disorders overall and specific disorder groups (anxiety, mood and substance) are common among Māori and measures of severity indicate that disorders have considerable health impact. Findings provide a platform for informing public health policy and health sector responses to meeting mental health needs of Māori.
Adolescent↗
Skin infections of the limbs of Polynesian children.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Child↗
Smoking in a New Zealand university student sample.
AIMS: The aims of this study were to estimate the prevalence of smoking in the University of Otago student population, and to compare estimates with those for university students in other countries, and with other similarly aged youth in New Zealand. METHODS: In 2002, 1910 randomly selected University of Otago students were invited to complete an Internet survey, and 1564 (82%) of these students responded. RESULTS: Daily smoking was reported by 10% of both women and men. A further 10% of women and 9% of men reported occasional smoking. Daily smoking was reported by 16% of Maori women and 9% of Maori men. CONCLUSIONS: Daily smoking was uncommon among University of Otago students relative to the general New Zealand population aged 15-24 years. Moreover, rates were lower than those recorded for students in other developed countries and appear to have decreased over the last decade. Smoking among Maori women, in particular, is a priority area for intervention.
Adult↗
Motor vehicle traffic crashes involving Maori.
AIMS: To provide a descriptive epidemiology of fatal and non-fatal motor vehicle traffic (MVT) crashes involving Maori (1980-1994 inclusive) and to describe factors associated with those crashes. METHODS: A data set for 1980-1994 was created by linking: (1) the New Zealand Police traffic crash reports (providing crash details), and (2) the New Zealand Health Information Services (NZHIS) hospital inpatient and mortality files (providing ethnicity, other demographic and injury details). RESULTS: The linked data set contained 8178 MVT crash events involving 8273 vehicles/drivers in which there were 9288 Maori casualties. Findings showed 82% of Maori casualties were aged less than 34 years and 70% were male. Nearly 30% were car drivers, 32% passengers, 15% motorcyclists and 12% pedestrians. Most crashes occurred in fine weather (82%), on a sealed (98%), two-way (97%) road, in or near an urban area (62%). The largest proportion (44%) of crashes occurred between 5 pm and midnight and the most common days of the week on which they occurred were Saturday (21%) and Friday (19%). The most common type of crash was 'loss of control' on a corner (27%) or a straight road (13%). CONCLUSIONS: Motor vehicle traffic crashes are a major cause of mortality and morbidity for Maori. Future research, and the development of strategies to prevent traffic-related injury among Maori, would be facilitated by the inclusion of an ethnicity indicator on the traffic crash reports, and the collection of more comprehensive crash data on safety measures, such as occupant protection and driver-licence status.
Accidents, Traffic↗
Serious health events following involuntary job loss in New Zealand meat processing workers.
BACKGROUND: The association between unemployment and poor health outcomes is well documented. Significant debate exists as to whether unemployment causes ill health or whether those with poor health find it harder to obtain and maintain employment. Factory closure studies are well placed to comment on causation. The objective of this study was to investigate associations between involuntary job loss, mortality and serious illness. METHODS: An 8-year follow-up of workers from two meat-processing plants in the Hawkes Bay region of New Zealand. A cohort (n = 1945) made redundant in 1986 was compared with a cohort (n = 1767) from the neighbouring plant that remained open until 1994. Incidence rates for mortality, cancer registrations and admissions to public hospitals were derived from record linkage with routinely collected national data. RESULTS: Follow-up for the period 1986-1994 was 96% complete for both plants. Among the cohort made redundant in 1986, there was an increased risk of serious self-harm which led to hospitalization or death (adjusted for age, sex and ethnicity relative risk [RR] = 2.47; 95% CI: 1.04-5.89) compared to the employed cohort. The RR of admission to hospital with a mental health diagnosis was 1.17 (95% CI: 0.68-2.01). There were no other statistically significant findings. CONCLUSIONS: This study has most of the features of an 'ideal' factory closure study, in that it achieved near-complete follow-up of a large workforce made redundant and a similar employed workforce for 8 years. We found that exposure to involuntary job loss increased the risk of mental distress leading to serious self-harm. No other association was found.
Adult↗