Search
Research
Acute lower respiratory infections (ALRI) in Indigenous and non-Indigenous childrenIn Australia and many other developed countries, acute lower respiratory infection (ALRI) is one of the most common reasons for hospitalisation in young...
Research
Lessons from the first year of the WAIVE study investigating the protective effect of influenza vaccineInfluenza is major cause of paediatric hospitalisation. Influenza vaccine was offered to all children aged 6-59 months resident in Western Australia in 2008
Our team’s vision is to reduce the burden of infectious diseases in children and their families through comprehensive approaches to understanding the burden of disease, developing and optimising diagnosis and treatment strategies and evaluating and informing current and future prevention programs.
Research
Infection Transmission in Early Childhood Education and Care: a mixed methods study to inform future interventionsThe COVID-19 pandemic has exposed many uncertainties and incorrect assumptions about respiratory pathogen transmission.
Research
The STAMP RSV ProgramSTAMP RSV is a multifaceted program of work with the single focus to prepare the community for the uptake of new and emerging RSV immunisation strategies by providing the evidence to inform public health policy.
Research
Risk factors and comorbidities for invasive pneumococcal disease in Western Australian Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peopleAustralian Aboriginal people have among the highest rates of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) worldwide. This paper investigates clinical diagnosis, risk...
Research
Association between pertussis vaccination in infancy and childhood asthma: A population-based record linkage cohort studyAsthma is among the commonest noncommunicable diseases of childhood and often occurs with other atopic comorbidities. A previous case-control study found evidence that compared to children who received acellular pertussis (aP) vaccines in early infancy, children who received one or more doses of whole-cell pertussis (wP) vaccine had lower risk of developing IgE-mediated food allergy. We hypothesized that wP vaccination in early infancy might protect against atopic asthma in childhood.
Research
The causal impact of mental health on tobacco and alcohol consumption: An instrumental variables approachThe reciprocal relationship between psychiatric and substance use disorders is well-known, yet it remains largely unknown whether mental health morbidity causally leads to addictive behaviours. This paper utilises a fixed effects instrumental variables model, which is identified by time-varying sources of plausibly exogenous variations in mental health, and a nationally representative panel dataset from Australia to present robust evidence on the causal impact of mental distress on cigarette smoking and alcohol drinking behaviours.
Research
Health service utilisation for acute respiratory infections in infants graduating from the neonatal intensive care unit: a population-based cohort studyDespite advances in neonatal intensive care, babies admitted to Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU) suffer from adverse outcomes. We aim to describe the longer-term respiratory infectious morbidity of infants discharged from NICU using state-wide population-based linked data in Western Australia.
Research
Modeling the potential health impact of prospective Strep A vaccinesThe World Health Organization published the preferred product characteristics for a Group A Streptococcus (Strep A) vaccine in 2018. Based on these parameters for the age of vaccination, vaccine efficacy, duration of protection from vaccine-derived immunity, and vaccination coverage, we developed a static cohort model to estimate the projected health impact of Strep A vaccination at the global, regional, and national levels and by country-income category.