Stephen Vander Hoorn

Western Australia Health · School of Population and Global Health

Abstract: Simulation outputs from chemical transport models (CTMs) are essential to plan effective air quality policies. A key strength of these models is their ability to separate out source-specific components which facilitate the simulation of the potential impact of policy on future air quality. However, configuring and running these models is...

Simulation outputs from chemical transport models (CTMs) are essential to plan effective air quality policies. A key strength of these models is their ability to separate out source-specific components which facilitate the simulation of the potential impact of policy on future air quality. However, configuring and running these models is complex an...

While there is clear evidence that high levels of pollution are associated with increased all-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality and morbidity, the biological mechanisms that would explain this association are less understood. We examined the association between long-term exposure to air pollutants and risk factors associated with cardiov...

Maritime regulators, port authorities, and industry require the ability to predict risk exposure of shipping activities at a micro and macro level to optimize asset allocation and to mitigate and prevent incidents. This article introduces the concept of a strategic planning tool by making use of the multi-layered risk estimation framework (MLREF),...

Objective: To generate estimates of the global prevalence and incidence of urogenital infection with chlamydia, gonorrhoea, trichomoniasis and syphilis in women and men, aged 15-49 years, in 2016. Methods: For chlamydia, gonorrhoea and trichomoniasis, we systematically searched for studies conducted between 2009 and 2016 reporting prevalence. We...

Objectives: To investigate the mortality and cancer incidence of female firefighters, a group where there are limited published findings. Methods: Participating fire agencies supplied records of individual firefighters including the number and type of incidents attended. The cohort was linked to the Australian National Death Index and Australian...

Objectives: This study aims to investigate mortality and cancer incidence of Australian male volunteer firefighters and of subgroups of firefighters by duration of service, era of first service and the number and type of incidents attended. Methods: Participating fire agencies supplied records of individual volunteer firefighters, including inci...

Objectives: To investigate mortality and cancer incidence of paid male Australian firefighters and of subgroups of firefighters by era of first employment, duration of employment and number and type of incidents attended. Methods: Participating fire agencies supplied records of individual firefighters including their job histories and incidents...

Background: An investigation into concerns about possible health effects of fire training practices at an Australian training facility recommended a study to investigate the risk of cancer and mortality of those with risk of chronic occupational exposure to several chemicals. Aims: To investigate mortality and cancer incidence in firefighters at...

Background Quantifying sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevalence and incidence is important for planning interventions and advocating for resources. The World Health Organization (WHO) periodically estimates global and regional prevalence and incidence of four curable STIs: chlamydia, gonorrhoea, trichomoniasis and syphilis. Methods and Find...

List of publications to accompany S1 Data and S1 Figs. (DOCX)

Global and regional estimates for 2012 by infection and sex of the percentage of population with prevalent infection and the estimated incidence rates (per 1,000). (DOCX)

WHO copyright permission S1 Map. (PDF)

Standardizing prevalence data across studies. (DOCX)

Table of the chlamydia, gonorrhoea and trichomoniasis data from the current literature review and included from previous reviews that met the study entry criteria. (XLSX)

Classification of countries for WHO 2012 estimates of chlamydia, gonorrhoea, trichomoniasis, and syphilis. (AI)

Forest plots for unadjusted reported data on chlamydia, gonorrhoea, and trichomoniasis in women and men, grouped by World Health Organization region. (TIFF)

Search strategy. (DOCX)

Estimating duration of infection. (DOCX)

PRISMA 2009 checklist. (DOC)

Maritime administration and coastal states have become more aware of the need to enhance risk mitigation strategies primarily due to increased worldwide shipping activities, changing safety qualities of the world fleet and limited resources to deploy mitigation strategies. This paper introduces an innovative multi-layered framework to assess, predi...

Respiratory failure is associated with significant morbidity and is the predominant cause of death in motor neurone disease/amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (MND/ALS). This study aimed to determine the effect of non-invasive ventilatory (NIV) support on survival and pulmonary function decline across MND/ALS phenotypes. Cohort recruited via a specialis...

BACKGROUND: High blood pressure, blood glucose, serum cholesterol, and BMI are risk factors for cardiovascular diseases and some of these factors also increase the risk of chronic kidney disease and diabetes. We estimated mortality from cardiovascular diseases, chronic kidney disease, and diabetes that was attributable to these four cardiometabolic...

Background Older people living with dementia prefer to stay at home to receive support. But they are at high risk of death and/or hospital admissions. This study primarily aimed to determine risk factors for time to death or hospital admission (combined) in a sample of community-dwelling older people living with dementia in Australia. As a secondar...

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is often diagnosed at an advanced, incurable stage. Previous epidemiological data suggests that diabetes mellitus (DM) is a risk factor for PDAC, which may be important in early detection. However, the strength of this association needs to be determined, taking into account a number of recently published stud...

Background: frail older people often require tailored rehabilitation in order to remain at home, especially following a period of hospitalisation. Restorative care services aim to enhance an older person's ability to remain improve physical functioning, either at home or in residential care but evidence of their effectiveness is limited.Objective:...

Shipping activity has increased worldwide and maritime administrations are trying to enhance risk mitigation strategies by using proactive approaches. We present and discuss a conceptual framework to minimize potential harm based on a multi-layered approach which can be implemented in either real time for operational purposes or in prediction mode...

Log relative risks in original age groups as reported in pooling projects. (PDF)

The purpose of this trial was to investigate the effectiveness of an exercise rehabilitation program commencing during intensive care (ICU) admission and continuing into the outpatient setting compared with usual care on physical function and health related quality of life in survivors of ICU. This was a single center assessor blinded randomized tr...

The effects of systolic blood pressure (SBP), serum total cholesterol (TC), fasting plasma glucose (FPG), and body mass index (BMI) on the risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) have been established in epidemiological studies, but consistent estimates of effect sizes by age and sex are not available. We reviewed large cohort pooling projects, evalu...

Introduction The purpose of this trial was to investigate the effectiveness of an exercise rehabilitation program commencing during intensive care (ICU) admission and continuing into the outpatient setting compared with usual care on physical function and health related quality of life in survivors of ICU. Methods This was a single center assess...

  To estimate the annual mortality and the cost of hospital admissions for acute rheumatic fever (ARF) and rheumatic heart disease (RHD) for New Zealand residents.   Hospital admissions in 2000-2009 with a principal diagnosis of ARF or RHD (ICD9_AM 390-398; ICD10-AM I00-I099) and deaths in 2000-2007 with RHD as the underlying cause were obtained fr...

  To estimate acute rheumatic fever (ARF) incidence rates for New Zealand children and youth by ethnicity, socioeconomic deprivation and region.   National hospital admissions with a principal diagnosis of ARF (ICD9_AM 390-392; ICD10-AM I00-I02) were obtained from routine statistics and stratified by age, ethnicity, socioeconomic deprivation index...

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death, and principal reason for the large difference in life expectancy between indigenous Māori and the non-indigenous population in New Zealand. CVD guidelines recommend that people who are at high risk or who have had previous CVD should be offered aspirin, blood pressure lowering...

There has been widespread interest in the potential of combination cardiovascular medications containing aspirin and agents to lower blood pressure and cholesterol ('polypills') to reduce cardiovascular disease. However, no reliable placebo-controlled data are available on both efficacy and tolerability. We conducted a randomised, double-blind plac...

Current smoking cessation treatments focus on addressing the pharmacological dependence of smokers on nicotine. However, new strategies are needed that address both nicotine dependence and the psychological dependence on cigarettes as the source of nicotine. Evidence from a number of small smoking cessation studies suggests that the use of cigarett...

Aims To estimate the annual mortality and the cost of hospital admissions for acute rheumatic fever (ARF) and rheumatic heart disease (RHD) for New Zealand residents. Methods Hospital admissions in 2000-2009 with a principal diagnosis of ARF or RHD (ICD9_AM 390-398; ICD10-AM I00-I099) and deaths in 2000-2007 with RHD as the underlying cause were ob...

Background Data for trends in serum cholesterol are needed to understand the eff ects of its dietary, lifestyle, and pharmacological determinants; set intervention priorities; and evaluate national programmes. Previous analyses of trends in serum cholesterol were limited to a few countries, with no consistent and comparable global analysis. We esti...

The analyses of risk factors within a common analytical framework and using comparable methods as outlined in these volumes has ensured greater consistency and comparability in evaluating and using scientific evidence on major risks to health. At the same time, data and knowledge gaps identified in the analyses of these risks illustrate key areas o...

Estimates of the burden of disease attributable to selected individual risk factors were presented in chapter 26. Diseases and injuries are, however, almost always caused by multiple risk factors (Rothman 1976; Walter 1980), motivating analysis of the health benefits of simultaneous

Streptococcus pneumoniae (Sp.) is a leading cause of paediatric bacterial meningitis, pneumonia and acute otitis media, as is non-typable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) for acute otitis media. In 2008, a 7-valent conjugated pneumococcal vaccine (PCV7) was included in the New Zealand (NZ) childhood immunization schedule. To estimate the potentially v...

This study aimed to describe the location and intensity of free-living physical activity in New Zealand adolescents during weekdays and weekend days using Global Positioning Systems (GPS), accelerometry, and Geographical Information Systems (GIS). Participants (n = 79) aged 12-17 years (M = 14.5, SD 1.6) recruited from two large metropolitan high s...

Case Definitions for Acute Respiratory Infection. A table providing full definitions of acute respiratory infection for this study

Acute respiratory illness (ARI) is the most common cause of acute presentations and hospitalisations of young Indigenous children in Australia and New Zealand (NZ). Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) from household smoking is a significant and preventable contributor to childhood ARI. This paper describes the protocol for a study which aims to test...

The RT3 is a relatively new triaxial accelerometer that has replaced the TniTrac. The aim of this study was to validate the RT3 against doubly labeled water (DLW) in a free-living, mixed weight sample of adults. Total energy expenditure (TEE) was measured over a 15-day period using DLW Activity-related energy expenditure (AEE) was estimated by subt...

Childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions in developed countries. Sedentary screen-based activities such as video gaming are thought to displace active behaviors and are independently associated with obesity. Active video games, where players physically interact with images onscreen, may have utility as a novel intervention to increase phy...

This study sought to integrate perceived and built environmental and individual factors into the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) model to better understand adolescents' physical activity. Participants (n = 110) aged 12 to 17 years (M = 14.6 +/- 1.55) were recruited from two large metropolitan high schools in Auckland, New Zealand, were included in...

To measure trends in the cardiovascular preventive medication prescribing in New Zealand primary care during 2000-2003. Demographic, risk factor, and prescribing data from the Dunedin Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners Research Unit database were analysed. The data set consisted of men aged at least 45 years and women at least 55 ye...

Few studies have assessed the extent and distribution of the blood-pressure burden worldwide. The aim of this study was to quantify the global burden of disease related to high blood pressure. Worldwide burden of disease attributable to high blood pressure (> or =115 mm Hg systolic) was estimated for groups according to age (> or =30 years), sex, a...

Despite a number of cross-national studies that have examined the associations between income inequality and broad health outcomes such as life expectancy and all-cause mortality, investigations of the cross-country relations between income inequality and cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity, mortality, and risk factors are sparse. We analyzed th...

BACKGROUND: Accurate measurement of physical activity is a pre-requisite for monitoring population health and for evaluating effective interventions. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) is used as a comparable and standardised self-report measure of habitual physical activity of populations from different countries and socio-cu...

The United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set targets related to important global poverty, health, and sustainability issues. A critical but underinvestigated question for planning and allocating resources toward the MDGs is how interventions related to one MDG might affect progress toward other goals. To estimate the reduction in chil...

Accurate measurement of physical activity is a pre-requisite for monitoring population health and for evaluating effective interventions. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) is used as a comparable and standardised self-report measure of habitual physical activity of populations from different countries and socio-cultural conte...

The United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set targets related to important global poverty, health, and sustainability issues. A critical but underinvestigated question for planning and allocating resources toward the MDGs is how interventions related to one MDG might affect progress toward other goals. To estimate the reduction in ch...

Cardiovascular mortality risk increases continuously with blood glucose, from concentrations well below conventional thresholds used to define diabetes. We aimed to quantify population-level effects of all higher-than-optimum concentrations of blood glucose on mortality from ischaemic heart disease and stroke worldwide. We used population distribut...

To investigate the spatial relationship between retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness measured with optical coherence tomography (OCT) and visual field sensitivity (VFS) measured by standard automated perimetry (SAP) in chiasmal compression. Twenty-six patients with chiasmal compression were enrolled. RNFL thickness was measured with the Strat...

To estimate mortality attributable to higher-than-optimal blood cholesterol in New Zealand in 1997, and the mortality burden that could be potentially avoided in 2011 if modest reductions in mean population blood cholesterol concentrations were achieved. Comparative risk assessment methodology was used to estimate the attributable and avoidable mor...

Objectives To quantify population-level bias in self-reported weight and height as a function of age, sex, and the mode of self-report, and to estimate unbiased trends in national and state level obesity in the USA. Design Statistical analysis of repeated cross-sectional health examination surveys (the National Health and Nutrition Examination Sur...

To quantify population-level bias in self-reported weight and height as a function of age, sex, and the mode of self-report, and to estimate unbiased trends in national and state level obesity in the USA. Statistical analysis of repeated cross-sectional health examination surveys (the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey [NHANES]) and h...

To estimate mortality attributable to inadequate vegetable and fruit intake in New Zealand in 1997, and the burden of disease that could be avoided in 2011 if modest increases in vegetable and fruit intake were to occur. Comparative risk assessment methodology was used to estimate both attributable and avoidable mortality due to inadequate vegetabl...

To provide global estimates of blood pressure by age and sex for adults aged > or = 30 years, by WHO subregion. Data were obtained from studies identified in a literature review of population-based surveys. These were complemented by data from MONICA and INTERSALT studies. Estimates of the shape of the age-systolic blood pressure (SBP) association...

To provide estimates of the global burden of disease attributable to non-optimal blood pressure by age and sex for adults aged > or = 30 years, by WHO subregion. Estimates of attributable burden were made using population impact fractions, which used data on mean systolic blood pressure levels, disease burden [in deaths and/or disability-adjusted l...

Few prospective data from the Asia Pacific region are available relating body mass index to the risk of diabetes. Our objective was to provide reliable age, sex and region specific estimates of the associations between body mass index and diabetes. Twenty-seven cohort studies from Asia, New Zealand and Australia, including 154,989 participants, con...

To estimate the mortality due to non-optimal levels of systolic blood pressure, total blood cholesterol, body mass index (BMI), and vegetable and fruit intake amongst Maori and non-Maori in New Zealand in 1997. In addition, to estimate the ethnic-specific burden of disease that could potentially be avoided in 2011 if exposure to these risk factors...

To permit the assessment of risk factors in a unified framework while acknowledging characteristics specific to individual risk factors, the Comparative Risk Assessment (CRA) project initiated a systematic evaluation of the changes in population health that would result from modifying the population distribution of exposure to a risk factor or to a...

Epidemiological studies report confidence or uncertainty intervals around their estimates. Estimates of the burden of diseases and risk factors are subject to a broader range of uncertainty because of the combination of multiple data sources and value choices. Sensitivity analysis can be used to examine the effects of social values that have been i...

Modern epidemiological studies generally report confidence or uncertainty intervals around their estimates, often based on the variation observed in sample data. Estimates of the burden of disease and of risk factors, which extrapolate from specific data sources and epidemiological studies to population-level measures, are subject to a broader rang...