Biomedical subjects

T Dobbins

Publications and source records attributed to T Dobbins.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Consent for corneal donation: the effect of age of the deceased, registered intent and which family member is asked about donation.

AIM: To determine whether consent to corneal donation is related to which next of kin is asked to consent, the age of the potential donor and the indication about donation made by the deceased on their driving licence. METHOD: The Lions New South Wales Eye Bank (Sydney, New South Wales, Australia) provides the corneal transplantation service for Australia's most populous state. Over the 18-month period from 1 July 2004 to 31 December 2005 for all requests for donation, records were kept of which next of kin was asked for consent, the age of the deceased and the indication about donation by the deceased on their driving licence. RESULTS: Over the 18-month study period, 841 people were approached about corneal donation. 63.2% of those people approached gave their consent to donation. Increasing age of the deceased was significantly positively associated with consent to donation (p = 0.006). Multivariable univariate analysis adjusting for age of deceased showed that relative type was strongly associated with consent (p<0.001), with mothers and fathers more likely to donate than siblings, and siblings more likely to donate than children and spouses. An indication of willingness to donate on a driving licence was strongly associated with consent (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Higher consent rates from older donors have implications for policies to maximise corneal procurement. The decision to donate on behalf of a deceased family member is complex and influenced by social context. Research should investigate individualised strategies to be used when seeking consent from particular categories of next of kin.

Age Factors↗

PubMed2000

The Australian National Workplace Health Project: design and baseline findings.

BACKGROUND: This paper describes the study design, recruitment, measurement, and initial recruitment outcomes of Australia's largest workplace intervention trial, the National Workplace Health Project. METHODS: This was a cluster-randomized trial of socio-behavioral and environmental interventions focusing on key behaviors of physical activity, healthy food choices, cigarette smoking, and alcohol consumption, as well as motivational readiness for change. Twenty worksites were randomized separately for each intervention using a two-by-two factorial design. All participants underwent a health risk appraisal and measurements were made at baseline and at 1 and 2 years. RESULTS: The overall response rate for the baseline survey was 73% with 61% attending the health risk appraisal. The sample was predominantly male, English-speaking, married, blue-collar workers. Overall, 12% reported unsafe alcohol consumption, 26% were current smokers, 44% were physically inactive, 74% ate at most one piece of fruit per day, and 26% ate at most one serving of vegetables per day. Intervention and control conditions were similar at baseline for the primary outcomes, except that a higher proportion of the sociobehavioral intervention condition was more physically active (59%) than the corresponding control condition (53%). CONCLUSIONS: This study will permit the rigorous evaluation of the efficacy of sociobehavioral and environ mental intervention approaches to workplace health promotion. Although participants were randomized by worksite, intervention and control conditions were similar at baseline; any differences in the primary out come variables will be controlled for in the analysis.

Adult↗

PubMed1999

Prescribing patterns in general practice. A comparison of two data sources.

OBJECTIVE: To compare data captured by an electronic general practice prescribing package with prescribing data from the Health Insurance Commission (HIC). METHODS: Twenty GPs from the Hunter Urban Division of General Practice (HUDGP) used the electronic prescribing package. Data for June-July 1996 were analysed. Prescribing data for all GPs (n = 369) in the HUDGP were extracted from HIC files to provide the comparison. RESULTS: Each data source had limitations, and provided different, but complementary information. HIC data allowed calculation of prescribing rates (prescriptions per 100 Medicare services), but had incomplete capture of information on some classes of drugs, and no information on the patients receiving the drugs or the indications for the use of the drugs. The HUDGP database could only provide information on choice of agent when the decision to prescribe something had been made. However, it provided the context information (patient characteristics, indication for use, other medications) that could permit some assessment of the appropriateness of therapy. CONCLUSIONS: HIC data may be useful for an overall assessment of divisional activities. However, for a full assessment of the quality of prescribing at the level of individual GPs, additional patient related information is required. This requires much wider use of electronic prescribing packages that can capture the clinical details needed to review the appropriateness of treatment decisions.

Australia↗

PubMed1998

A placebo-controlled trial of insulin-like growth factor-I in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. European ALS/IGF-I Study Group.

To test the safety and efficacy of recombinant human insulin-like growth factor-I (rhIGF-I) in ALS, 183 patients from eight European centers were randomized to receive double-blind placebo (n = 59) or rhIGF-I 0.1 mg/kg/day (n = 124) subcutaneously for 9 months. At study completion, the primary efficacy outcome measure (change in disease progression as assessed by the Appel ALS rating scale) showed no significant difference between treatment groups. RhIGF-I appeared to be safe and well-tolerated.

Adult↗

PubMed1996

Reproducibility of data collected by patient interview.

This study examined the reproducibility of data, not generally considered at risk for poor patient recall, obtained on two separate occasions. Our study used data collected for a register of heart attacks in the Lower Hunter Region of New South Wales, and included 1675 patients who were registered at least twice. Reporting inconsistencies between occasions were assessed for eight data items. We found that the sex of five patients had been recorded differently on the two occasions. Among patients interviewed on both occasions, between 0.5 per cent and 2.0 per cent of patients had inconsistent reports for marital status, country of birth, smoking status and height, 2.7 per cent for date of birth, 13 per cent for education level and between 1.6 per cent and 9.6 per cent for the history of various medical conditions. Patients not from an English-speaking background, over 60 years of age or without tertiary education tended to have higher rates of inconsistent reporting. Time between occasions, marital status and sex were not associated with increased rates of inconsistent reporting. We concluded that apparently straightforward data items, such as date of birth and education level, were not perfectly reproducible when obtained by patient interview on separate occasions. Our results provide a starting point for sensitivity analysis in other studies if the potential inaccuracies in reporting of such data should be of concern.

Data Collection↗