Research Underway

  • The SEEF Project: Understanding the impact of social, economic and geographic disadvantage on the health of Australians in mid to later life: What are the opportunities for prevention?

    This project is examining the ways in which social, economic and environmental factors influence the health of Australians in mid to later life.

  • NSW Skin Health Study

    This sub-study aims to determine the possible contributions of sun exposure and major lifestyle factors such as tobacco and alcohol consumption to the risk of keratinocyte cancers.

  • The CREDO Resarch Project: A randomised controlled trial of a web-based intervention to improve depression, cognitive function and adherence in people with comorbid cardiovascular disease

    This project aims to determine the effects of an evidence based internet intervention program for depression on depressive symptoms in patients being treated for cardiovascular disease.

  • Retirement transition: a longitudinal P-E fit approach within a “life expectancy” time framework

    This project is using validated psychological measures to explore retirement and examine which adjustment path a person is likely to follow.

  • The Housing and Independent Living Project (HAIL)

    This project will study the home and neighbourhood environments of a sample of community dwelling older people, to determine the extent to which these environments can be considered to be “supportive” according to international measures.

  • Link-Up Project: Pilot study for the collection of biospecimens and biodata from participants in the 45 and Up Study

    The Link-Up Project is the next stage of the 45 and Up Study. The aim of the Link-Up Project is to collect further information from people who are already participating in the 45 and Up Study. 45 and Up Study participants who enrol in the Link-Up Project will be asked to complete a very brief questionnaire about their current health, provide a small blood sample (less than 2 tablespoons / 30ml) and have their height, weight, waist circumference, blood pressure and heart rate measured.

  • Chronic disease management plans: Who receives them and do they make a difference to use of health care services and health outcomes?

    This project will study participants with heart disease, diabetes or asthma to determine if health outcomes or health services are impacted by chronic disease management plans.

  • Investigating best practice primary care for older Australians with diabetes using data linkage

    This project will use record linkage to investigate the relationships between processes of care, costs, and health outcomes among Australians aged 45 years or more to inform policy development relation to primary health care and integration of multidisciplinary care. The research will use the 45 and Up Study participants to link individual-level self-reported data about socio-demographic factors, health risk factors and health status with administrative data on processes of care and outcomes to explore the relationships. This study will comprise two parts. The major part of the study is the 'Diabetes Linkage Study'. A supplementary survey will seek additional information on diabetes and its management from a sub-set of participants who reported diabetes in the baseline questionnaire.

  • Data Analysis

    This study aims to use results from the 45 and Up Study to assist the Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care (ADHC) to meet the needs of the growing number of older Australians. Questionnaire data will be very useful to help them to understand our current and potential clients.

  • Risk characteristics, hospital admissions, and outcomes of patients with chronic diseases in NSW, 2005-2009

    This study aims to investigate factors associated with hospital admissions (planned/ unplanned) and re-admissions of older patients diagnosed with the five chronic diseases in NSW; and the influence of health care utilisation on disease outcomes, taking into account the patients’ risk characteristics.

  • Referral pathways in colorectal cancer: general practitioners' patterns of referral and factors that influence referral

    The project aims to increase our understanding of the pattern and factors influencing the referral of colorectal cancer (CRC) patients to cancer care specialists after diagnosis in general practices. The results of this project will be used to inform and guide cancer services in Australia about the most effective way to ensure that patients are referred promptly and appropriately to multi-disciplinary specialist teams. CRC is used as a model for cancer treatment referral because of the variations in practice and outcomes.

  • Investigation of the costs of treatment for non-melanoma skin cancer

    This study aims to provide an estimate of the medical costs for treating non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) in NSW by doing a ‘bottom up’ costing and providing an average cost per person for the treatment of NMSC, both to patients and to Medicare. It will also investigate differences in the medical costs of treatment for NMSC among population sub-groups, particularly examining differences between rural and urban residents and differences by socio-economic status which may be indicative of screening practices and access to services.

  • Cross Sectional Descriptive Analyses of the Baseline 45 and Up data set to inform the cardiovascular research network (CVRN)

    The aims of this study are to analyse of cardiovascular disease and diabetes by socio demogrpahic factors in the baseline 45 and Up dataset; to examine the sub types of cardiovascular disease, diabetes or renal disease that are available in the 45 and Up data set, and to examine the risk for people who have already with reported heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, stroke, and renal disease. The risk factor profile sought will be those risk factors that can be identified through the baseline dataset, including profiling by physical activity level, obesity, smoking status and some nutritional patterning.

  • Prescription opioid use for chronic non-cancer pain.

    This study aims to examine the relationship between use of prescribed opioid medication and a wide range of demographic, lifestyle, health, social and other factors in 45 and Up participants; and to investigate the useage pattern of long-term opioid therapy for chronic non-cancer pain.

  • Breastfeeding and the subsequent risk of diabetes

    The main aim of this project is to examine the effect of breastfeeding on a woman’s subsequent risk of developing diabetes.   

  • High health resource utilisation

    This project will use data from the 45 and Up Study linked to NSW hospitalisation and death data to describe the characteristics of 45 and Up Study participants who are high users of hospital services, including demographic, lifestyle, health, social and other factors.

  • The Ageing Heart and Brain Study

    This study will focus primarily on Parksinson's Disease, heart disease and Stroke, seeking to identify risk factors for the development of these conditions, the management of known risk factors and the consequences of developing these conditions in terms of quality of life and daily living activities. Phase I will involve the analysis of baseline questionnaire data derived from the 45 and Up study.

  • Fruit and vegetable intakes among men and women in NSW: who is going for 2 and 5?

    We propose to examine the level of intake of fruit and vegetables among men and women aged 45 years and over in NSW, to estimate the proportions who meet the recommended intake, and to describe those factors associated with adequate fruit and vegetable consumption.

  • Validation of recording of comorbidity in the Admitted Patient Data Collection (APDC)

    This project is using self-reported information from the 45 and Up Study baseline questionnaire to explore the sensitivity and specificity of recording of comorbidities in APDC data

  • Health Behaviour Clusters

    This project plans to segment the 45 and Up Study baseline data with a view to identifying groups that engage in a similar array of health-related behaviours.

  • Joint replacement study

    This project is investigating the characteristics of 45 and Up Study members who have had hip or knee replacements.

  • Diabetes related risk factors among Vietnam-born residents in NSW

    This project aims to investigate the health status, health related risk factors and acculturation into Australia of Vietnam-born residents, especially those who have type 2 diabetes.

  • Physical activity and health: Studies of older adults and middle-aged men

  • Generalisability of the 45 and Up Study

    The project seeks to investigate the generalisability of 45 and Up Study data by comparing a range of exposure-outcome relationships from the 45 and Up Study and the New South Wales Population Health Survey.

  • Sleep duration, obesity and health in middle aged and older Australian adults

    Sleep duration has recently been identified as an important predictor of psychological and physical health in adults. Recent studies indicate that short sleep durations are associated with obesity in children and younger adults, however it is not clear whether these relationships are also evident in middle aged and older adults.

  • Understanding the factors relating to health insurance status

    This project will use data from the 45 and Up Study baseline questionnaire to examine the relationship between health insurance status and a wide range of demographic, lifestyle, health, social and other factors.

  • An evaluation of the contribution of cardiovascular risk factors to psychological distress and disability in the 45 and Up study

    This project will utilise baseline questionnaire data to explore the relationships between cardiovascular disease and depression in those of working age (<65 years)

  • Prospective investigation of obesity, ageing and hospitalisation: impact, mediating factors and costs

    This project is examining the impact, mediating factors and costs of obesity, ageing and hospitalisation

  • Testing and treatment for prostate cancer in Australia: Epidemiology and modelling

    This study will use data from Medicare Australia and data from completed surveys to describe PSA testing, prostate cancer diagnostic pathways and prostate cancer treatment and also use the 45 and Up Study linked with Medical Benefits claims data, cancer registrations and death registrations to calculate prostate cancer incidence and mortality rates for different PSA testing history patterns. They will then incorporate Australian data into the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC) prostate cancer model and calibrate the model to evidence from the randomised controlled trials on prostate cancer mortality and PSA testing.

  • Smoking and health services: new measures of risk and burden

    This study aims to link data from 45 and Up Study participants to data on hospitalisations, ED presentations, use of MBS and PBS services and deaths and to analyse these linked data to establish the relationship between smoking and use of specific health services in 45 and Up Study participants. These results will be used to identify opportunities for targeting preventive and policy interventions, improving estimation of the of the costs and benefits of smoking-related prevention and cessation programs, and strengthening ongoing monitoring and reporting of smoking-related health service use.

  • Carers and labour force participation

    The study will aim to demonstrate that people caring for family members are likely to have a lower probability of being in labour force and caring for family members likely to impact on their income. The study will analyse the association between caring and being out of the labour force among persons aged 45 – 64 years, analyse how this association varies by carers' own health status and estimate the impact of staying out of the labour force to provide care on carers' income

  • Factors related to health care use by older people who have fallen

    Data from the 45 and Up cohort study will be analysed to identify intrinsic characteristics of self-reported fallers and non-fallers. Associations between intrinsic fall-related risk factors for different age ranges who have reported falling and individuals who have not reported falling will be identified. Also identified will be any distinguishing intrinsic characteristics of repeat fallers (ie. more than one fall reported) versus single fallers (ie. one reported fall) and non-fallers.

  • Measuring Socioeconomic Status (SES) - an empirical study

    In literature and other longitudinal studies, a social economical position (SEP) score using principle component (PC) method based on three measures (ie: education, prestige of occupation and family income) is often derived to approximate socioeconomic status (SES). This study aims to test whether further suggested indicators should be routinely included as part of measure of SES, in addition to the routinely used three indicators;

  • GIS mapping the 45Up cohort: Physical activity and its relationship to walkability

    The aim of this project is to develop and map “walkability” in NSW and examine it in relation to physical activity behavior, sedentary and sitting time, self-reported obesity (BMI estimates) and on other related health outcomes from the 45and Up Study cohort.

  • Mapping overweight and obesity and psychological distress among the older population in NSW

    This study aims to determine the geographic distribution of overweight and obese, physical activity and psychological distress from the 45 and Up Study cohort and establish if there are relative contributions to overweight, obesity, physical activity and psychological distress of individual-level factors and area-level characteristics.

  • The Influence of Season on Participant Responses to 45 and Up Study Survey Questions About Health and Wellbeing

    This project will help to assess whether seasonality is an important predictor of survey responses to questions on health and wellbeing, and which variables, if any, are most strongly affected by seasonality.

  • Social Capital and Social Support Analysis of the 45 and Up Study Data for the SEEF project

    This project is conducting a follow up survey of 100,000 participants to identify if social connections/ social participation vary across age groups and gender; if social connections/ social participation independently associated with health; are different types of social connections/ social participation independently associated with health status; does the effect of social connections/ social participation on health mediate by health-related behaviour and if there differential associations of social connections and social support with mental health status of adults.

  • The profile and prevalence of use of glucosamine and fish oil amongst older Australians

    This project is led by Associate Professor Jon Adams - University of Queensland Baseline data from the 45 and Up Study will be used to determine a profile of users of glucosamine and fish oil or omega-3 fatty acids, the prevalence of use of its use, based on demographic, health status, and health behaviour variables.

  • Risk factors of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) in 45 and Up Study

    This project is led by Professor Emily Banks from the Australian National University. This project will involved analysis of 45 and Up Study baseline questionnaire data will be used to examine the relationships between demographic, lifestyle and health factors and outcome measure for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), such as the International Prostate Symptom Score, or a diagnosis of benign prostate hyperplasia.

  • Identifying predisposing factors for, and the consequences of, common and emerging infectious diseases in a large prospective cohort study of adults     

    This project will link all 45 and Up Study data to the Notifiable Diseases Database, Admitted Patient Data Collection, Register of Births Deaths and Marriages and ABS, Medicare, PBS and Cancer Registrations to determine risk factors for the development of important infectious diseases and to determine what impact specific infections have on long term health in adults

  • Population based risk factors and use of health services for fracture

    This study aims to investigate potential factors that may influence fracture risk including the relationship between fracture risk and lifestyle, patterns of fracture occurrence and use of health, sun exposure and possible confounding factors with fracture including physical activity, frailty, cormorbidities and diet and pharmaceutical agents and fracture.

  • The relationship between oral health, diet and systemic health outcomes in the 45 and Up Study Cohort

    This project is examining the relationship between oral health, diet and systemic health outcomes in the 45 and Up Study Cohort.

  • Maintaining independence

    This project will explore the factors that enhance the likelihood that older people will “age in place”, and stay living independently for as long as possible.

  • The correlates of poor memory, mental health and wellbeing in ageing: are they different in the old-old (aged > 80 years)?

    This project is investigating the risk and protective factors associated with earlier stages of ageing and what changes across the older age bands that signifies a reduction in healthy ageing

  • Population-based study of factors associated with type 2 diabetes

    This project will, simultaneously and on a large scale, explore demographic, lifestyle and behavioural factors associated with type 2 diabetes.

  • Understanding risk factors for cancer in the 45 and Up Study cohort

    This project is undertaking cross-sectional analyses of variables pertinent to risk factors for cancer that are being collected in the 45 and Up Study baseline questionnaire.

  • The healthy ageing profile and drivers of health service use for people of diverse cultural backgrounds in NSW (Phase 1)

    Phase 1 of a larger project, this research will utilise baseline questionnaire data to identify differentials in the risk factors and morbidity profiles of people of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds aged 50 to 65 years as compared with their Australian born, non-indigenous counterparts.

  • Relationship between demographic and lifestyle factors and asthma and hay fever in an older Australian population

    This project will assess the impact of a range of lifestyle and demographic factors that may be associated with asthma and hay fever.

  • Validation of self-report of surgery in the 45 and Up Study

    This project will investigate the agreement between self-report of surgical procedures and the recording of these procedures in routine administrative hospital morbidity data by linking the 45 and Up Study baseline questionnaire to the NSW Admitted Patient Data Collection.

  • Sun exposure and its correlates in the NSW 45 and up cohort study

    This project is examining the correlates and potential confounders of the relationship between sun exposure, skin cancer and other cancers in the NSW population

  • The 45 and Up Study: exploring met and unmet needs for home care in NSW

    This project is examining the use of Home and Community Care (HACC) services in NSW.

  • Exploring the relationships between indicators of mental health problems and their correlates in the 45 and Up Study

    This project will utilise baseline questionnaire data to conduct a large-scale examination of psychological distress, self reported anxiety and depression and psychotropic medication use and their correlates in mid to late life.

  • Multifactorial Predictors of Positive Ageing: A Biopsychosocial Model of Longevity

    This study aims to empirically examine the concept of “positive ageing” in older Australians.

  • Physical activity and depression in men living in rural and remote areas of NSW

    This project will analyse the baseline data to explore the relationship between physical activity levels and self-reported doctor-diagnosed depression and depressive symptoms in men aged 65 and over living in rural and remote areas of NSW.

  • Selective estrogen receptor modules (SERMS) for early breast cancer: utilisation and outcomes in Australian practice

    This project will investigate the use and outcomes of selective estrogen receptor modules in post-surgical breast cancer treatment for women with receptor-positive tumours.

  • Health Pathways for Baby Boomers through Middle Age: an Australian and UK Comparison

    This project will re-survey a group of 1,200 participants in the 45 and Up Study and ask them to participate in a telephone interview about events in their life, e.g., work, partners, family and health to better understand the health risks and protective factors over the life course of a baby boomer cohort.

  • Prescription medication and traffic crashes among older drivers

    This study aims to estimate the impact of prescription medications on the crash outcomes of older drivers.

  • Investigation of the relationship between intrinsic risk factors in fallers and non-fallers aged 45+ years

    This project will investigate the association of intrinsic fall-related risk factors for different age ranges (including mid-life adults) among 45 and Up Study participants who have reported falling and non-fallers.

  • Utilisation of cancer treatment services in people aged 45 years and over in NSW: A population-based study

    This project aims to determine the cancer treatment utilisation in the 45 years and Up age group in NSW and to identify the factors influencing the utilisation of treatment in this group.

  • Acculturation and ageing: follow-up study of Vietnam-born and Lebanon-born older Australians

    This project is investigating the health and risk factors of Vietnam-born and Lebanon-born Australians and their use of health services and how these change with age, acculturation and time.

  • Investigation of the effect of progestagen-only contraceptives on fracture risk

    This project is investigating the relationship between use of progestagen-only contraceptives and the risk of fracture among women in the 45 and Up Study – with a view to identifying modifiable causes of fracture.

  • Impact and burden of chronic musculoskeletal conditions in Australia

    This project is describing the burden of musculoskeletal conditions with a view to quantify the impact of chronic musculoskeletal conditions. Specifically, the project will evaluate the associations between Osteoarthritis and serious co-morbidities, and the impact of these on work status, physical functioning and lifestyle. Mitigating factors will also be identified.

  • Older Peoples Air Pollution Study

    This project is investigating the associations between exposure to urban ambient air pollutants and: health status and quality of life; and respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease and mortality from respiratory and cardiovascular disease

  • Economic impacts of disease on older workers: costs to government and individuals and opportunities for intervention

    Determining the economic impacts of disease on older workers aged 45-65

  • The health needs and service use of older frail men aged 70 years and over living in the community

    The project is examining the health needs and service use of older frail men