Asanga Abeyaratne

Asanga Abeyaratne
Royal Darwin Hospital · Department of Nephrology

FRACP

About

58
Publications
3,181
Reads
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169
Citations
Introduction
Additional affiliations
January 2017 - present
Flinders University
Position
  • Professor (Associate)

Publications

Publications (58)
Article
Full-text available
BACKGROUND: Globally, adult Indigenous people, including Aboriginal Australians, have a high burden of chronic respiratory disorders, and bronchiectasis is no exception. However, literature detailing bronchiectasis disease characteristics among adult Indigenous people is sparse. This study assessed the clinical profile of bronchiectasis among adult...
Article
Full-text available
Background The prevalence of bronchiectasis is significantly higher among adult Aboriginal Australians (the Indigenous peoples of Australia) compared to non-Aboriginal Australians. Currently, there is no well-established tool to assess bronchiectasis severity specific to Indigenous peoples. Nor has the applicability and validity of the two well-est...
Article
Full-text available
INTRODUCTION: The Northern Territory (NT) is a hotspot for chronic kidney disease (CKD) and has a high incidence of kidney replacement therapy (KRT). The Territory Kidney Care clinical decision support (CDS) tool aims to improve diagnosis and management of CKD in remote NT, particularly among First Nations Australians. We model the cost-effectivene...
Article
Hemodialysis is a risk factor for Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infection (SAB). In this single-centre study, SAB rates were 56% lower during the monsoonal wet season when patients on hemodialysis receive supervised melioidosis prophylaxis with trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. This intervention may reduce SAB rates in high-risk patients however f...
Article
Full-text available
Background Engagement and partnership with consumers and communities throughout research processes produces high quality research meeting community needs and promoting translation of research into improved policy and practice. Partnership is critical in research involving Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people (First Nations Peoples) to en...
Article
Full-text available
Background The burden of chronic kidney disease (CKD) is high in the Northern Territory (NT), Australia. This study aims to describe the healthcare use and associated costs of people at risk of CKD (e.g. acute kidney injury, diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease) or living with CKD in the NT, from a healthcare funder perspective. Meth...
Article
Full-text available
Background The prevalence of bronchiectasis among adult Aboriginal Australians is higher than that of non-Aboriginal Australians. However, despite evidence to suggest higher prevalence of bronchiectasis among Aboriginal people in Australia, there is sparce evidence in the literature assessing clinical parameters that may predict survival or mortali...
Article
Full-text available
Background: Magnesium is an essential cation, and dysmagnesmia is linked to many poor outcomes. This study aims to assess the prevalence of dysmagnesemia and associated health outcomes among hospitalised patients. Methods: This register-based study collected demographic and laboratory data of hospitalised patients from five publicly funded hospital...
Article
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Background The burden of chronic conditions is growing in Australia with people in remote areas experiencing high rates of disease, especially kidney disease. Health care in remote areas of the Northern Territory (NT) is complicated by a mobile population, high staff turnover, poor communication between health services and complex comorbid health c...
Article
Full-text available
Background This study assessed hospitalisation frequency and related clinical outcomes among adult Aboriginal Australians with bronchiectasis over a ten-year study period. Method This retrospective study included patients aged ≥ 18 years diagnosed with bronchiectasis between 2011 and 2020 in the Top End, Northern Territory of Australia. Hospital a...
Article
Full-text available
Objectives To assess the prevalence of bronchiectasis among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Indigenous) adults in the Top End of the Northern Territory, and mortality among Indigenous adults with bronchiectasis. Study design Retrospective cohort study. Setting, participants Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults (18 years or older) l...
Article
Full-text available
Background Ferritin levels are used to make decisions on therapy of iron deficiency in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Hyperferritinaemia, common among patients with CKD from the Northern Territory (NT) of Australia, makes use of ferritin levels as per clinical guidelines challenging. No gold standard assay exists for measuring ferritin...
Article
Full-text available
ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot that has taken the world by storm since its release in November 2022. It is important that GPs in Australia are aware of the technology - its uses and limitations - and have input into the debates that shape the future of its use in healthcare.
Preprint
Full-text available
Background: Ferritin levels are used to make decisions on therapy of iron deficiency in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Hyperferritinaemia, common among patients with CKD from the Northern Territory (NT) of Australia, makes use of ferritin levels as per clinical guidelines challenging. No gold standard assay exists for measuring ferriti...
Article
Full-text available
Background: Aboriginal Australians are reported to have a high burden of chronic airway diseases. However, prescribing patterns and related outcomes of airway directed inhaled pharmacotherapy, (short-acting beta agonists (SABA), short-acting muscarinic antagonists (SAMA), long-acting β-agonists (LABA), long-acting muscarinic antagonists (LAMA) and...
Article
Full-text available
Objective To describe the socio-environmental profile and clinical features of invasive group A streptococcal (iGAS) infections in the Northern Territory (NT) of Australia over 10 years. Methods Cases of iGAS disease diagnosed between 1 May 2011 and 30 April 2021 were retrospectively identified from the NT Notifiable Diseases System and electronic...
Article
Full-text available
Aim Royal Darwin Hospital (RDH) is the main tertiary hospital that has performed more than 600 biopsies since its establishment. Although Indigenous people in Australia’s Northern Territory (NT) has the highest rate of renal replacement therapy, the histopathology pattern of their renal diseases is still under discussed. We aimed to analyse the his...
Article
Full-text available
Background: Electronic health records can be used for population-wide identification and monitoring of disease. The Territory Kidney Care project developed algorithms to identify individuals with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and several commonly comorbid chronic diseases. This study aims to describe the development and validation of our algorithms...
Article
Full-text available
BACKGROUND: Clinical decision support (CDS) is increasingly used to facilitate chronic disease care. Despite increased availability of electronic health records and the ongoing development of new CDS technologies, uptake of CDS into routine clinical settings is inconsistent. This qualitative systematic review seeks to synthesise healthcare provider...
Article
Full-text available
Objectives Electronic health record-based clinical decision support (CDS) has the potential to improve health outcomes. This systematic review investigates the design, effectiveness, and economic outcomes of CDS targeting several common chronic diseases. Material and Methods We conducted a search in PubMed (Medline), EBSCOHOST (CINAHL, APA PsychIn...
Preprint
Full-text available
Aim: Royal Darwin Hospital (RDH) is the main tertiary hospital that has performed more than 600 biopsies since its establishment. Although Aboriginal people in Australia’s Northern Territory has the highest rate of renal replacement therapy, the histopathology pattern of their renal diseases is still under discussed. We aimed to analyse the histopa...
Article
Full-text available
Abstract Background Lupus nephritis is a common manifestation of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus. Mycophenolate is recommended by guidelines for induction therapy in patients with proliferative lupus nephritis and nephrotic range proteinuria Class V lupus nephritis. Indigenous Australians suffer disproportionally from systemic lupus erythematosus comp...
Article
Full-text available
Abstract Background The effectiveness of erythropoiesis-stimulating agents, which are the main stay of managing anaemia of chronic kidney disease (CKD), is largely dependent on adequate body iron stores. The iron stores are determined by the levels of serum ferritin concentration and transferrin saturation. These two surrogate markers of iron store...
Article
Background Warfarin for the prevention of non-valvular atrial fibrillation related thromboembolic stroke in patients on maintenance haemodialysis is controversial. Despite the exclusion of haemodialysis patients in randomised control trials, the American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology has recommended warfarin in high-risk AF patie...
Article
Background Lupus nephritis (LN) is common feature of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) and affects 50% of patients with SLE. Racial differences in incidence and prevalence have been well documented worldwide. In Australia, higher incidence and prevalence of SLE had been previously reported in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Australians compared to no...
Preprint
Full-text available
Background The effectiveness of erythropoiesis stimulating agents, which are the main stay of managing anaemia of chronic kidney disease (CKD) is largely dependent on adequate body iron stores. The iron stores are determined by the levels of serum ferritin concentration and transferrin saturation. These two surrogate markers of iron stores are used...
Preprint
Full-text available
Background Lupus nephritis is a common manifestation of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus. Mycophenolate is recommended by guidelines for induction therapy in patients with proliferative lupus nephritis and nephrotic range proteinuria Class V lupus nephritis. Indigenous Australians suffer disproportionally from systemic lupus erythematosus compared to n...
Preprint
Full-text available
Introduction: The Top End of Australia has a high proportion of Indigenous people with a high burden of chronic cardiac and pulmonary diseases likely to contribute to pulmonary hypertension (PH). The epidemiology of PH has not been previously studied in this region. Methods: Patients with PH were identified from the Northern Territory echocardiogra...
Preprint
Introduction : The Top End of Australia has a high proportion of Indigenous people with a high burden of chronic cardiac and pulmonary diseases likely to contribute to pulmonary hypertension (PH). The epidemiology of PH has not been previously studied in this region. Methods: Patients with PH were identified from the Northern Territory echocardiogr...
Article
Introduction: The Top End of Australia has a high proportion of Indigenous people with a high burden of chronic cardiac and pulmonary diseases likely to contribute to pulmonary hypertension (PH). The epidemiology of PH has not been previously studied in this region. Methods: Patients with PH were identified from the Northern Territory echocardiogra...
Article
Objective: The Northern Territory has the highest incidence of haemodialysis care for end-stage kidney disease in Australia. Although acute kidney injury (AKI) is a recognised risk for chronic kidney disease (CKD), the effect of AKI causing incident haemodialysis ( i HD) is unknown. Audits identifying antecedents of i HD may inform health service p...
Article
Full-text available
A multiple myeloma patient, who had been treated with a hematopoietic stem cell transplant, underwent a renal biopsy for investigation of a possible relapse of disease as indicated by increased serum creatinine and positive urinary Bence-Jones protein containing increased kappa light chain. Paraprotein-related renal disease was not evident by light...
Article
Full-text available
Background: The burden of pulmonary hypertension (PHT) in Central Australia has not been previously studied. Our aim is to characterise the prevalence, clinical classification, and long-term survival of individuals with PHT in Central Australia. Methods: A community-based cohort study of all individuals diagnosed with PHT in Central Australia be...
Article
Full-text available
Aim: Acute post infectious glomerulonephritis is common in Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory, Australia. It is a major risk factor for the high prevalence of chronic kidney disease. We aimed to analyse the clinical presentation, pathological spectra, treatment and outcomes of biopsy-proven acute post infectious glomerulonephritis in...
Article
Full-text available
Magnesium plays a key role in maintaining internal homeostasis through actions in the musculoskeletal, nervous, endocrine and cellular messenger systems. Renal excretion is the major route of magnesium elimination from the body. A positive magnesium balance would be expected in renal failure. However, a compensatory decrease in tubular reabsorption...
Article
Use of erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) has improved the management of anemia in patients on maintenance hemodialysis (MHD). Iron deficiency and inflammation cause ESAs resistance and are both common among indigenous people of Northern Australia. As part of quality assurance in our Renal Anaemia Management program, we observed that there wa...
Article
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) causes high morbidity and mortality among Indigenous Australians of the Northern Territory (NT). Studies have shown CKD rates of 4-10 times higher in Indigenous than non-Indigenous Australians and prevalent dialysis rates of 700-1200 per million population. For most patients with End Stage Renal failure, renal transplan...

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