"My Autism is Linked with Everything": at the Crossroads of Autism and Diabetes.

Autistic adults experience stark health disparities and difficulties accessing health care. Their realities of managing complex health conditions are unknown. Our research explored the experience of Autistic adults self-managing diabetes. Interviews with Autistic adults with diabetes and their support people were thematically analysed to identify three key themes. The Autistic experience influenced diabetes self-management, including autism-unique challenges and strengths. Participants prioritised avoiding Autistic burnout over diabetes self-management; mitigating the psychosocial pressures of neurotypical systems took precedence. Health professionals often separated autism and diabetes subsequently overlooking key factors impacting diabetes self-management. To better meet the needs of Autistic adults, diabetes care and health management more broadly should be considered within the context of autism, including supports for self-management during Autistic burnout.

Pediatric hospital admissions in Indigenous children: a population-based study in remote Australia.

BACKGROUND: We analysed hospital admissions of a predominantly Aboriginal cohort of children in the remote Fitzroy Valley in Western Australia during the first 7 years of life. METHODS: All children born between January 1, 2002 and December 31, 2003 and living in the Fitzroy Valley in 2009-2010 were eligible to participate in the Lililwan Project. Of 134 eligible children, 127 (95%) completed Stage 1 (interviews of caregivers and medical record review) in 2011 and comprised our cohort. Lifetime (0-7 years) hospital admission data were available and included the dates, and reasons for admission, and comorbidities. Conditions were coded using ICD-10-AM discharge codes. RESULTS: Of the 127 children, 95.3% were Indigenous and 52.8% male. There were 314 admissions for 424 conditions in 89 (70.0%) of 127 children. The 89 children admitted had a median of five admissions (range 1-12). Hospitalization rates were similar for both genders (p = 0.4). Of the admissions, 108 (38.6%) were for 56 infants aged <12 months (median = 2.5, range = 1-8). Twelve of these admissions were in neonates (aged 0-28 days). Primary reasons for admission (0-7 years) were infections of the lower respiratory tract (27.4%), gastrointestinal system (22.7%), and upper respiratory tract (11.4%), injury (7.0%), and failure to thrive (5.4%). Comorbidities, particularly upper respiratory tract infections (18.1%), failure to thrive (13.6%), and anaemia (12.7%), were common. In infancy, primary cause for admission were infections of the lower respiratory tract (40.8%), gastrointestinal (25.9%) and upper respiratory tract (9.3%). Comorbidities included upper respiratory tract infections (33.3%), failure to thrive (18.5%) and anaemia (18.5%). CONCLUSION: In the Fitzroy Valley 70.0% of children were hospitalised at least once before age 7 years and over one third of admissions were in infants. Infections were the most common reason for admission in all age groups but comorbidities were common and may contribute to need for admission. Many hospitalizations were feasibly preventable. High admission rates reflect disadvantage, remote location and limited access to primary healthcare and outpatient services. Ongoing public health prevention initiatives including breast feeding, vaccination, healthy diet, hygiene and housing improvements are crucial, as is training of Aboriginal Health Workers to increase services in remote communities.

Impact of Multidrug Resistance on Tuberculosis Recurrence and Long-Term Outcome in China.

Little is known about the impact of drug resistance on recurrence in TB. We conducted a cohort study to measure the impact of multi-drug resistance (MDR) on TB recurrence over nine years in Henan Province China. We reviewed medical records and conducted field interviews of 100 MDR and 150 non-MDR TB patients who were treated between 2001 and 2002. We compared long-term recurrence rates, risk factors, and outcomes in 2010 for 234 individuals who could be followed up. About one third (29.5%, 69/234) suffered recurrence after completion of treatment. The overall recurrence rate was 35/1,000 patient-years (PY), with a much higher rate (65/1,000 PY) among MDR-TB patients. MDR (HR: 2.75; CI: 1.58-4.79) and patient annual household income less than 10,000 Yuan (HR: 2.05; CI 1.11-3.80) were associated with recurrence. The mean time for recurrence among MDR-TB patients was 5.7 years, compared to 7.2 years among non-MDR-TB patients. Among the recurrence group members, 61.3% died, and 18.8% had failed treatments. We believe that the high TB recurrence rate after 9 years suggests that a high cure rate cannot accurately predict long-term outcome. We recommend that TB surveillance and control should be strengthened with a focus on MDR-TB and directly observed treatment, to reduce TB recurrence and transmission of MDR-TB.

Physical and mental health among caregivers: findings from a cross-sectional study of Open University students in Thailand.

BACKGROUND: Caregivers constitute an important informal workforce, often undervalued, facing challenges to maintain their caring role, health and wellbeing. Little is known about caregivers in middle-income countries like Thailand. This study investigates the physical and mental health of Thai adult caregivers. METHODS: This report derives from distance-learning students working and residing throughout Thailand and recruited for a health-risk transition study in 2005 (N=87,134) from Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University. The cohort follow-up questionnaire in 2009 (N = 60,569) includes questions on caregiver status which were not available in 2005; accordingly, this study is confined to analysis of the 2009 data. We report cross-sectional associations between caregiver status and health. RESULTS: Among the study participants in 2009, 27.5% reported being part-time caregivers and 6.6% reported being full-time caregivers. Compared to male non-caregivers, being a part-time or full-time male caregiver was associated with lower back pain (covariate-Adjusted Odds Ratios, AOR 1.36 and 1.67), with poor psychological health (AOR 1.16 and 1.68), but not with poor self-assessed health. Compared to female non-caregivers, being a part- or full-time female caregiver was associated with lower back pain (AOR 1.47 and 1.84), psychological distress (AOR 1.32 and 1.52), and poor self-assessed health (AOR 1.21 and 1.34). CONCLUSIONS: Adult caregivers in Thailand experienced a consistent adverse physical and mental health burden. A dose-response effect was evident, with odds ratios higher for full-time caregivers than for part-time, and non-caregivers. Our findings should raise awareness of caregivers, their unmet needs, and support required in Thailand and other similar middle-income countries.

Arbovirus models to provide practical management tools for mosquito control and disease prevention in the Northern Territory, Australia.

Ross River virus (RRV) causes the most common human arbovirus disease in Australia. Although the disease is nonfatal, the associated arthritis and postinfection fatigue can be debilitating for many months, impacting on workforce participation. We sought to create an early-warning system to notify of approaching RRV disease outbreak conditions for major townships in the Northern Territory. By applying a logistic regression model to meteorologic factors, including rainfall, a postestimation analysis of sensitivity and specificity can create rainfall cut-points. These rainfall cut-points indicate the rainfall level above which previous epidemic conditions have occurred. Furthermore, rainfall cut-points indirectly adjust for vertebrate host data from the agile wallaby (Macropus agilis) as the life cycle of the agile wallaby is intricately meshed with the wet season. Once generated, cut-points can thus be used prospectively to allow timely implementation of larval survey and control measures and public health warnings to preemptively reduce RRV disease incidence. Cut-points are location specific and have the capacity to replace previously used models, which require data management and input, and rarely provide timely notification for vector control requirements and public health warnings. These methods can be adapted for use elsewhere.

Preparing health services for climate change in Australia.

Although the implications of climate change for public health continue to be elucidated, we still require much work to guide the development of a comprehensive strategy to underpin the adaptation of the health system. Adaptation will be an evolving process as impacts emerge. The authors aim is to focus on the responses of the Australian health system to health risks from climate change, and in particular how best to prepare health services for predicted health risks from heat waves, bushfires, infectious diseases, diminished air quality, and the mental health impacts of climate change. In addition, the authors aim to provide some general principles for health system adaptation to climate change that may be applicable beyond the Australian setting. They present some guiding principles for preparing health systems and also overview some specific preparatory activities in relation to personnel, infrastructure, and coordination. Increases in extreme weather-related events superimposed on health effects arising from a gradually changing climate will place additional burdens on the health system and challenge existing capacity. Key characteristics of a climate change-prepared health system are that it should be flexible, strategically allocated, and robust. Long-term planning will also require close collaboration with the nonhealth sectors as part of a nationwide adaptive response.

Health care utilization, cost burden and coping strategies by disability status: an analysis of the Viet Nam National Health Survey.

There is a need for nationally representative information on the affordability of health care by disability status to assist in the design of equitable health systems in developing countries. Using the Viet Nam National Health Survey (2001-2002), this paper analyses health care utilization, cost burden and coping strategies for people with disabilities versus the population at large. The results clearly show that the disabled population are more prone to hospitalization, and spend more on inpatient stays and pharmaceuticals. Households with disabled members are at greater risk of catastrophic health expenditures and debt financing, posing a serious threat to economic welfare.