Research - Department of Epidemiology & Preventive Medicine

Our core skills relate to epidemiology and its application to problems in clinical medicine and public health. 

This Department is unique in terms of the range of medical and scientific expertise amongst our senior academic staff, including cardiologists, occupational health specialists, clinical pharmacologists, statisticians, emergency medicine specialists, rheumatologists, respiratory specialists, environmental health specialists, toxicologists, and specialists in other areas. Our research units  often collaborate, bringing skills from several scientific areas to one project. 

New funding awarded for 2008

NHMRC Project Grants

Hyperbaric oxygen in lower limb trauma: a randomised controlled clinical trial
Ian Millar, Owen Williamson, Peter Cameron, Paul Myles
$684,375

The LIPID Sudy: 16 year outcomes and predictors of risk and their interactions in CHD patients.
Andrew Tonkin, Peter Thompson, Malcolm West, Stefan Blankenberg, Adrienne Kirby, Wendy Hague
$731,563

The Australasian Resuscitation in Sepsis Evaluation - Randomised Controlled Trial
Rinaldo Bellomo, Peter Cameron, David Cooper, Sandra Peake, Steven Webb, Anthony Delaney, Anna Holdgate
$1,1718,130

NHMRC Research Fellowship - Chris Reid

Grants through other institutions

ANU

NHMRC Project Grant
Aspirin for the prevention of cognitive decline in the elderly: a neuro-vascular imagnig study (ENVIS-ion) from ASPREE.
Marc Budge, Elsdon Storey, Andrew Tonkin, Tien Wong, Christopher Reid, David Ames
$1,271,100

Menzies Research Institute

NHMRC Project Grant
Does childhood physical activity, fitness and fatness  impact on knee structural change 20 years later.
Chang-Hai Ding, Graeme Jones, Alison Venn, Flavia Cicuttini, Terence Dwyer

University of Adelaide

ARC Linkage Grant
Can and should we link data at a national level? Vaccine safety surveillance: A case study.

Research at DEPM

Cardiovascular Research

• Home Automated Defibrillator Trial (HATS)
• Chronic heart failure assisted by telephone (CHAT) 
• Absolute Risk
• Epidemiology of chronic heart disease
• The Victorian healthy retirees cohort study.
• Risk and determinants of fatal and non-fatal coronary heart disease in the Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study.
• Primary prevention model of cardiovascular disease in Australia.
• ASPREE study of aspirin in the elderly  

Clinical Pharmacology

• Effect of rapid lipid lowering with atorvastatin on autonomic parameters in normal subjects and hyperlipidaemic patients with coronary artery disease.
• Endothelin antagonist Bosentan for lowering cardiac events in heart failure (ENABLE-1)
• Research into Etancercept: CytOkine antagonism in VEntricular dysfunction trial (RECOVER)

Environmental Health

• Arsenic exposure in Bangladesh
• Australian Gulf War Veterans Health Study - A health study of Australia’s 1991 Persian Gulf War veterans
• Benzene and leukaemia study - A study of employees in the Australian petroleum industry
• Causes of chronic obstructive lung diseases in older people
• Healthwatch Cohort Study - A study of work hazards, cancer incidence and causes of death in the petroleum industry.
• Healthwise - A study program comprising several studies of cancer and respiratory conditions in employees of Alcoa of Australia Ltd.  
• Orchardists Study - A Cancer Council Victoria funded study of pesticide exposure and cancer.
• Environmental arsenic exposure and human absorption.
• Arvasc - arsenic absorption and vascular disease.
• Fluoridation of drinking water supplies
• The effect of chlorination on the rates of gastroenteritis

Epidemiological Modelling

• PESPI - Design and evaluation of a pharmaceutical expert system plug-in.
• The Victorian healthy retirees cohort study.
• The epidemiology of hypertension in Australia.
• Risk and determinants of fatal and non-fatal coronary heart disease in the Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study.
• COSMIC Study - Cost of myocardial infarction and heart failure in the community.

Infectious Disease Epidemiology & Water Borne Illness

• Water reuse and alternative water sources
• Developing evidence-based strategic water quality monitoring systems
• The Water Quality Study
• Economic evaluation of community gastroenteritis
• Norwalk-like viruses and drinking water
• Disinfection byproduct exposure assessment
• Case-control studies of cryptosporidiosis (Melbourne and Adelaide)
• A system for the early detection of outbreaks of water-related gastroenteritis
• The effect of chlorination on the rates of gastroenteritis
• Fluoridation of drinking water supplies 
• Tuberculosis exposure in healthcare workers
• Vancomycin resistant Enterococcus in hospital patients
• Epidemiology of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) 
• Risks of developing Cryptosporidium in men who have sex with men
• Drinking water and melioidosis
• Economic evaluation of community gastroenteritis.
• Vancomycin resistant Enterococcus in hospital patients.

Occupational & Veterans' Health

• Benzene study.
• Case-control study of occupational exposure to solvents and electromagnetic fields and the development of brain tumours in adults.
• Healthwise - a study of health and work in employees of Alcoa of Australia Ltd, Portland Aluminium and the KAAL Rolling Mill.
• Healthwatch Cohort Study - a study of work hazards, cancer incidence and causes of death in the petroleum industry
• SABRE - Surveillance of Australian workplace based respiratory events.
• VicLead - Risk factors or predictors associated with increased lead absorption in children of lead workers.
• VIEW - a methodological study to develop a computer-assisted questionnaire to collect work histories in epidemiological studies.
• Stocktake of Australian data sources of occupational disease.
• Survey of occupational health legislation and exposure standards in the Asia-Pacific region.
• Occupational risk factors for prostate cancer
• Australian Gulf War Veteran's study
• Korean War Veterans' Health Study - A study of psychological and physical disorders in this group.
• Occupational Risk Factors for Prostate Cancer Study - A case control study coordinated by the University of Western Australia.  
• Tuberculosis Exposure in Healthcare Workers 
• Orchardists Study - A Cancer Council Victoria funded study of pesticide exposure and cancer.

Respiratory Epidemiology

• European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS II).
• Is diet responsible for the high asthma prevalence amongst adult Australians?
• Does encasing bedding reduce house dust mite allergen and improve asthma in allergic asthmatics?
• Non adherence with asthma management among adolescents.
• Study of asthma and allergies among tea-packers.
• Case crossover study of air pollution and asthma.
• Causes of chronic lung disease in middle aged and older adults.
• SABRE - Surveillance of Australian workplace based respiratory events.
• Asthma Burden - A DHS funded study of the burden of occupational asthma
• Causes of chronic obstructive lung diseases in older people

Rheumatology

• Efficacy and safety of vertebroplasty for acute painful osteoporotic spinal compression fractures.
• Cochrane Musculoskeletal Group, Australian Satellite
• Efficacy of physiotherapy after hydrodilatation for the stiff painful shoulder
• Understanding health information in the community 
• Quality of life, disability and prioritisation of people waiting for joint replacement surgery
• Remicade in the treatment of patients with active rheumatoid arthritis
• ESWT in the treatment of lateral epicondylitis (tennis elbow
• Cochrane reviews of interventions for shoulder pain and tennis elbow.
• Malignancy and rheumatoid arthritis.
• Supplementary written information for patients receiving drug therapy
• ESWT for plantar fasciitis
• Effects of a media campaign on back pain beliefs
• Oral prednisolone in the treatment of adhesive capsulitis.
• The responsiveness of disability and pain measures in shoulder disorders.
• How reliably do rheumatologists measure shoulder movement?
• Malignancy and polymyositis.
• Australian Rheumatoid Arthritis Database (ARAD)

Sports Injury Prevention

• Chronic brain injury in boxers
• Does warm-up prevent golf injuries 
• A conditioning program to prevent hamstring injuries at the community-level in Australian football
• Junior Australian Football safety 
• Sports Medicine Injury Surveillance project

Trauma Epidemiology

• Victorian State Trauma Registry and Monitoring (VSTORM) Group
• Victorian Orthopaedic Trauma Registry (VOTOR)
• Sports Injury Prevention Research Group
• The RICH Study - The Rapid Infusion of Cold Hartmann's for Hypothermia following Cardiac Arrest
• RSI Study
• Haemostasis Registry