%0 Journal Article
%~ Pubmed
%A Schaffer, Andrea
%A Muscatello, David
%A Broome, Richard
%A Corbett, Stephen
%A Smith, Wayne
%T Emergency department visits, ambulance calls, and mortality associated with an exceptional heat wave in Sydney, Australia, 2011: a time-series analysis.
%B Environmental health : a global access science source [electronic resource]
%D 2012
%V 11
%N 1
%P 3
%@ 1476-069X
%X ABSTRACT:
%Z FOR Codes: 1117



%0 Journal Article
%~ Pubmed
%A Wozniak, Teresa M
%A Corbett, Stephen J
%A Gilbert, Gwendolyn L
%T The plague: not just an historical curiosity.
%B NSW Public Health Bulletin
%D 2010
%V 21
%N 9-10
%P 248
%@ 1034-7674
%X 
%Z FOR Codes: 1117



%0 Journal Article
%~ Pubmed
%A Morgan, Geoffrey
%A Sheppeard, Vicky
%A Khalaj, Behnoosh
%A Ayyar, Aarthi
%A Lincoln, Doug
%A Jalaludin, Bin
%A Beard, John
%A Corbett, Stephen
%A Lumley, Thomas
%T Effects of Bushfire Smoke on Daily Mortality and Hospital Admissions in Sydney, Australia.
%B Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.)
%D 2010
%V 
%N 
%P 
%@ 1531-5487
%X BACKGROUND:: Little research has investigated the health effects of particulate exposure from bushfires (also called wildfires, biomass fires, or vegetation fires), and these exposures are likely to increase, for several reasons. We investigated associations of daily mortality and hospital admissions with bushfire-derived particulates, compared with particulates from urban sources in Sydney, Australia from 1994 through 2002. METHODS:: On days with the highest particular matter (PM)10 concentrations, we assumed PM10 was due primarily to bushfires. We calculated the contribution of bushfire PM10 on these days by subtracting the background PM10 concentration estimated from surrounding days. We assumed PM10 on the remaining days was from usual urban sources. We implemented a Poisson model, with a bootstrap-based methodology, to select optimum smoothed covariate functions, and we estimated the effects of bushfire PM10 and urban PM10, lagged up to 3 days. RESULTS:: We identified 32 days with extreme PM10 concentrations due to bushfires or vegetation-reduction burns. Although bushfire PM10 was consistently associatedwith respiratory hospital admissions, we found no consistent associations with cardiovascular admissions or with mortality. A 10 mug/m increase in bushfire PM10 was associated with a 1.24% (95% confidence interval = 0.22% to 2.27%) increase in all respiratory disease admissions (at lag 0), a 3.80% (1.40% to 6.26%) increase in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease admissions (at lag 2), and a 5.02% (1.77% to 8.37%) increase in adult asthma admissions (at lag 0). Urban PM10 was associated with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, as well as with cardiovascular and respiratory hospital admission, and these associations were not influenced by days with extreme PM10 concentrations. CONCLUSIONS:: PM10 from bushfires is associated primarily with respiratory morbidity, while PM10 from urban sources is associated with cardiorespiratory mortality and morbidity.
%Z FOR Codes: 111705 111706



%0 Journal Article
%~ Pubmed
%A Corbett, Stephen J
%A McMichael, Anthony J
%A Prentice, Andrew M
%T Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and the evolutionary paradox of the polycystic ovary syndrome: a fertility first hypothesis.
%B American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council
%D 2009
%V 21
%N 5
%P 587-98
%@ 1520-6300
%X Worldwide, the high prevalence of the Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), a heritable cause of ovarian infertility, is an evolutionary paradox, which provides insight into the susceptibility of well-fed human populations to cardiovascular disease and diabetes. We propose that PCOS, Type 2 diabetes (T2D) and the Metabolic Syndrome are modern phenotypic expressions of a metabolic genotype attuned to the dietary and energetic conditions of the Pleistocene. This metabolic "Fertility First" rather than "Thrifty" genotype persisted at high prevalence throughout the entire agrarian period-from around 12,000 years ago until 1800 AD-primarily, we contend, because it conferred a fertility advantage in an environment defined by chronic and often severe seasonal food shortage. Conversely, we argue that genetic adaptations to a high carbohydrate, low protein agrarian diet, with increased sensitivity to insulin action, were constrained because these adaptations compromised fertility by raising the lower bound of body weight and energy intake optimal for ovulation and reproduction. After 1800, the progressive attainment of dietary energy sufficiency released human populations from this constraint. This release, through the powerful mechanism of fertility selection, increased, in decades rather than centuries, the prevalence of a genotype better suited to carbohydrate metabolism. This putative mechanism for rapid and recent human evolution can explain the lower susceptibility to T2D of today's Europid populations. This hypothesis predicts that the increasing rates of diabetes and cardiovascular disease, which typically accompany economic development, will be tempered by natural, but particularly fertility, selection against the conserved ancestral genotypes that currently underpin them.
%Z FOR Codes: 60411 111706 110306



%0 Journal Article
%~ Pubmed
%A Corbett, Stephen
%T Modernising public-health infrastructure.
%B 
%D 2009
%V 54
%N 5
%P 301-2
%@ 1661-8564
%X 
%Z FOR Codes: 1117 2201



%0 Journal Article
%A Kardamanidis, K
%A Corbett, Stephen
%A Zammitt, A P
%T Hepatitis A: Wallis Lake Revisited
%B NWS Public Health Bulletin
%D 2009
%C Australia
%I CSIRO
%V 20
%N 
%P 29-31
%@ 1034-7674
%X 
%Z FOR Codes: 111706



%0 Journal Article
%~ Pubmed
%A Seale, Holly
%A Corbett, Stephen
%A Dwyer, Dominic E
%A MacIntyre, C Raina
%T Feasibility exercise to evaluate the use of particulate respirators by emergency department staff during the 2007 influenza season.
%B Infection control and hospital epidemiology : the official journal of the Society of Hospital Epidemiologists of America
%D 2009
%V 30
%N 7
%P 710-2
%@ 1559-6834
%X 
%Z FOR Codes: 111716 110804



%0 Journal Article
%~ Pubmed
%A Corbett, Stephen J
%A Poon, Christopher C S
%T Toxic levels of mercury in Chinese infants eating fish congee.
%B Medical Journal of Australia
%D 2008
%V 188
%N 1
%P 59-60
%@ 0025-729X
%X 
%Z FOR Codes: 111799



%0 Journal Article
%~ Pubmed
%A Alam, Noore
%A Corbett, Stephen J
%A Ptolemy, Helen C
%T Environmental health risk assessment of nickel contamination of drinking water in a country town in NSW.
%B NSW Public Health Bulletin
%D 2008
%V 19
%N 9-10
%P 170-3
%@ 1034-7674
%X Objectives: To assess the health risks associated with consumption of drinking water with elevated nickel concentration in a NSW country town named Sampleton. Methods: We used enHealth Guidelines (2002) as our risk assessment tool. Laboratory test results for nickel in water samples were compared with the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines 2004 and the World Health Organization's (WHO) Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality 2005. Results: The mean nickel concentration in the drinking water samples tested over a 4-year period (2002-2005) was 0.03 mg/L (95% CI: 0.02-0.04). The average daily consumption of two litres of water by a 70-kg adult provided 0.06 mg (0.03 mg x 2) of nickel, which was only 7% of the lowest observed adverse effect level (LOAEL) based on experiments on nickel-sensitive people in a fasting state. Conclusions: The mean nickel concentration in drinking water appears to have no health risks for the inhabitants of Sampleton.
%Z FOR Codes: 111705



%0 Journal Article
%~ Pubmed
%A Corbett, Stephen J
%T Public health and regulation of the built environment.
%B NSW Public Health Bulletin
%D 2008
%V 19
%N 11-12
%P 212-4
%@ 1034-7674
%X The earliest public health statutes contrived to develop effective controls of the excesses of the rapid urban development that accompanied the industrial revolution. By the end of the 20th century, much responsibility for the regulation of the built environment has been dispersed across government and in so doing has moved beyond the gaze of everyday public health concern. This paper argues firstly that there is a strong justification for greater public health involvement in the ongoing regulation of the built environment and secondly that a much broader range of health impacts needs to be considered in the conception of these regulatory measures.
%Z FOR Codes: 111705



%0 Journal Article
%~ Pubmed
%A Corbett, Stephen J
%T Regulation and regulatory effectiveness in public health.
%B NSW Public Health Bulletin
%D 2008
%V 19
%N 11-12
%P 193-4
%@ 1034-7674
%X 
%Z FOR Codes: 111799



%0 Journal Article
%~ Pubmed
%A Corbett, Stephen J
%T Channelling Edwin Chadwick: beyond utopian thinking in urban planning policy and health.
%B NSW Public Health Bulletin
%D 2007
%V 18
%N 9-10
%P 195-7
%@ 1034-7674
%X Health impact assessment is advanced as a formal means to assess the direct and indirect health impacts of urban planning decisions and processes. It is, however, an intrinsically passive policy device. A more comprehensive and practical policy framework or architecture, reminiscent of that devised by Edwin Chadwick and the sanitary reform movement in 19th Century England, will be necessary to reorient the goals and practices of urban planning.
%Z FOR Codes: 111705



%0 Journal Article
%~ Pubmed
%A Jalaludin, Bin
%A Mannes, Trish
%A Morgan, Geoffrey
%A Lincoln, Doug
%A Sheppeard, Vicky
%A Corbett, Stephen
%T Impact of ambient air pollution on gestational age is modified by season in Sydney, Australia.
%B Environmental health : a global access science source [electronic resource]
%D 2007
%V 6
%N 
%P 16
%@ 1476-069X
%X BACKGROUND: The effect of individual pollutants and the period(s) during pregnancy when pollutant levels are likely to have most impact on preterm birth is not clear. We evaluated the effect of prenatal exposure to six common urban air pollutants in the Sydney metropolitan area on preterm birth. METHODS: We obtained information on all births in metropolitan Sydney between January 1, 1998 and December 31, 2000. For each birth, exposure to each air pollutant was estimated for the first trimester, the three months preceding birth, the first month after the estimated date of conception and the month prior to delivery. Gestational age was analysed as a categorical variable in logistic regression models. RESULTS: There were 123,840 singleton births in Sydney in 1998-2000 and 4.9% were preterm. Preterm birth was significantly associated with maternal age, maternal smoking, male infant, indigenous status and first pregnancy. Air pollutant levels in the month and three months preceding birth had no significant effect on preterm birth after adjusting for maternal and infant covariates. Ozone levels in the first trimester of pregnancy and spring months of conception and sulphur dioxide were associated with increased risks for preterm births. Nitrogen dioxide was associated with a decreased risk of preterm births. CONCLUSION: We found more protective than harmful associations between ambient air pollutants and preterm births with most associations non-significant. In view of these inconsistent associations, it is important to interpret the harmful effects with caution. If our results are confirmed by future studies then it will be imperative to reduce Sydney's already low air pollution levels even further.



%0 Journal Article
%~ Pubmed
%A Johnson, Anthony
%A Toelle, Brett G
%A Yates, Deborah
%A Belousova, Elena
%A Ng, Kitty
%A Corbett, Stephen
%A Marks, Guy
%T Occupational asthma in New South Wales (NSW): a population-based study.
%B Occupational medicine (Oxford, England)
%D 2006
%V 56
%N 4
%P 258-62
%@ 0962-7480
%X BACKGROUND: The proportion of asthma in adults that is due to occupational exposures is not known. AIM: To examine the contribution of workplace exposures to the development of asthma in adults in New South Wales (NSW) in a cross sectional, population-based study. METHODS: A randomly selected population of 5,331 18- to 49-year olds completed and returned a mailed questionnaire (response rate 37%). In adult-onset asthmatics we examined the association of asthma with reported exposure, within 1 year of asthma onset, to a list of occupations and exposures known to be at risk for occupational asthma (high-risk jobs and exposures). RESULTS: Among 910 subjects (18%) with asthma, 383 (7%) subjects reported adult-onset disease. After adjusting for sex, age and smoking, working in any high-risk job or exposure at the time of asthma onset was significantly associated with adult-onset asthma (OR 1.51, 95% CI 1.19-1.92). The population attributable risk (PAR) of adult-onset asthma for either a high-risk job or an exposure was 9.5%. Sudden onset, irritant or reactive airways dysfunction syndrome type exposures were associated with adult-onset asthma (OR 4.65, 95% CI 1.64-13.2). The PAR of adult-onset asthma for these exposures was 0.2%. CONCLUSION: Reported adult onset of asthma is common and occupational exposures may be associated with 9.5% of prevalent cases of adult-onset asthma in NSW.
%Z FOR Codes: 111705



%0 Journal Article
%A Sheppeard, V
%A Morgan, G
%A Corbett, Stephen
%T New South Wales Indoor Air Survey. Part I: sources and concentrations of pollutants in homes in New South Wales
%B Environmental Health
%D 2006
%C Australia
%I Australian Institute of Environmental Health
%V 6
%N 
%P 15-24
%@ 1832-3367
%X 
%Z FOR Codes: 111705



%0 Journal Article
%A Sheppeard, V
%A Morgan, G
%A Corbett, Stephen
%T New South Wales Indoor Air Survey. Part II: concentrations of nitrogen dioxide in homes in New South Wales
%B Environmental Health
%D 2006
%C Australia
%I Australian Institute of Environmental Health
%V 6
%N 
%P 25-33
%@ 1832-3367
%X 
%Z FOR Codes: 111705



%0 Journal Article
%A Sheppeard, V
%A Morgan, G
%A Corbett, Stephen
%T New South Wales Indoor Air Survey. Part III: particulate matter concentrations in homes in New South Wales
%B Environmental Health
%D 2006
%C Australia
%I Australian Institute of Environmental Health
%V 6
%N 
%P 34-41
%@ 1832-3367
%X 
%Z FOR Codes: 111705



%0 Journal Article
%~ Pubmed
%A Jalaludin, Bin
%A Morgan, Geoffrey
%A Lincoln, Doug
%A Sheppeard, Vicky
%A Simpson, Rod
%A Corbett, Stephen
%T Associations between ambient air pollution and daily emergency department attendances for cardiovascular disease in the elderly (65+ years), Sydney, Australia.
%B 
%D 2005
%V 16
%N 3
%P 225-37
%@ 1559-0631
%X There are no reported studies on the effects of ambient air pollution on emergency department (ED) attendances in Sydney, Australia. This study aimed to determine associations between ambient air pollutants and ED attendances for cardiovascular disease (CVD) in those aged 65+ years. We constructed daily time series of hospital ED attendances, air pollutants and meteorological factors for the Sydney metropolitan area from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2001. We used generalised linear models to determine associations between daily air pollution and daily ED attendances and controlled for the effects of long-term trends, seasonality, weather and other potential confounders. Increased ED attendances for all CVD, cardiac disease and ischaemic heart disease were seen with 24-h particulate pollution, 1-h NO(2), 8-h CO and 24-h SO(2). Air pollutants were associated with decreased ED attendances for stroke. The effects of air pollutants on CVD, cardiac disease and stroke attendances were generally greater in the cool period compared to the warm period. The single-pollutant effects of CO, O(3), NO(2) and SO(2) were essentially unchanged in two-pollutant models. Although air pollution levels in Sydney are relatively low compared to similar cities, we have demonstrated associations between ambient air pollutants and ED attendances for CVD in people aged 65+ years. Our study adds to the growing evidence for the effects of ambient air pollution on CVD outcomes even at relatively low ambient concentrations.
%Z FOR Codes: 111705



%0 Journal Article
%A ALAM, N
%A Armstrong, Paul
%A Nguyen, O
%A Kesson, Alison
%A Cripps, Terri
%A CORBETT, Stephen
%A DEEBLE, M
%T A nosocomial outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium phage type 170 with person-to-person transmission implicated
%B Communicable Diseases Intelligence
%D 2005
%C Australia
%I Department of Health and Ageing
%V 29
%N 
%P 374-378
%@ 0725-3141
%X 
%Z FOR Codes: 110303



%0 Journal Article
%~ Pubmed
%A Mannes, T
%A Jalaludin, B
%A Morgan, G
%A Lincoln, D
%A Sheppeard, V
%A Corbett, S
%T Impact of ambient air pollution on birth weight in Sydney, Australia.
%B Occupational and environmental medicine
%D 2005
%V 62
%N 8
%P 524-30
%@ 1470-7926
%X BACKGROUND: Studies in Asia, Europe, and the Americas have provided evidence that ambient air pollution may have an adverse effect on birth weight, although results are not consistent. METHODS: Average exposure during pregnancy to five common air pollutants was estimated for births in metropolitan Sydney between 1998 and 2000. The effects of pollutant exposure in the first, second, and third trimesters of pregnancy on risk of "small for gestational age" (SGA), and of pollutant exposure during pregnancy on birth weight were examined. RESULTS: There were 138,056 singleton births in Sydney between 1998 and 2000; 9.7% of babies (13,402) were classified as SGA. Air pollution levels in Sydney were found to be quite low. In linear regression models carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide concentrations in the second and third trimesters had a statistically significant adverse effect on birth weight. For a 1 part per million increase in mean carbon monoxide levels a reduction of 7 (95% CI -5 to 19) to 29 (95% CI 7 to 51) grams in birth weight was estimated. For a 1 part per billion increase in mean nitrogen dioxide levels a reduction of 1 (95% CI 0 to 2) to 34 (95% CI 24 to 43) grams in birth weight was estimated. Particulate matter (diameter less than ten microns) in the second trimester had a small statistically significant adverse effect on birth weight. For a 1 microgram per cubic metre increase in mean particulate matter levels a reduction of 4 grams (95% CI 3 to 6) in birth weight was estimated. CONCLUSION: These findings of an association between carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and particulate matter, and reduction in birth weight should be corroborated by further study.
%Z FOR Codes: 111705



%0 Journal Article
%~ Pubmed
%A Corbett, Stephen
%T The art of the possible: experience and practice in health impact assessment in New South Wales.
%B NSW Public Health Bulletin
%D 2005
%V 16
%N 7-8
%P 116-8
%@ 1034-7674
%X 
%Z FOR Codes: 111705



%0 Journal Article
%~ Pubmed
%A Corbett, Stephen J
%T A Ministry for the Public's Health: an imperative for disease prevention in the 21st century?
%B Medical Journal of Australia
%D 2005
%V 183
%N 5
%P 254-7
%@ 0025-729X
%X The obesity epidemic has been described as a catastrophic failure of government and public health authorities to devise and implement concerted, effective evidence-based action. To respond effectively to major public health challenges such as this, Australia needs a Ministry for the Public's Health, with a budget and accountability to parliament separate from the Health Minister. This Ministry would be better able than current health departments to develop and implement health--rather than health care--policy, to build partnerships across tiers of government, and to present the health and economic arguments for disease prevention to state and federal treasuries. Such a Ministry has international precedents, with dedicated public health agencies created in Canada, Sweden and the United Kingdom, although it is, as yet, too early to gauge their effectiveness. The Ministry would be best placed within state and territory governments, as it is at this level that partnership building and whole-of-government cooperation would have the greatest impact.
%Z FOR Codes: 111709



%0 Journal Article
%~ Pubmed
%A Alam, Noore K M
%A Armstrong, Paul K
%A Nguyen, Oanh T K
%A Kesson, Alison M
%A Cripps, Terri M
%A Corbett, Stephen J
%T Salmonella typhimurium phage type 170 in a tertiary paediatric hospital with person-to-person transmission implicated.
%B Communicable Diseases Intelligence Quarterly Report
%D 2005
%V 29
%N 4
%P 374-8
%@ 0725-3141
%X Nosocomially-acquired salmonellosis is uncommonly reported in Australia. We report a cluster of gastroenteritis caused by Salmonella Typhimurium phage type 170 (STm 170) centred on a tertiary paediatric hospital in Sydney, New South Wales from 8 to 19 May 2004. A total of 12 children had STm 170 isolated from faecal specimens. Of the 12 cases, seven were acquired in hospital and five in the community. The mean age of the cases was 4.1 years (range: 2 months to 11.2 years). We conducted a case series investigation to generate hypotheses regarding the cause of this outbreak. Standardised interviews with cases' parents were conducted to identify potential exposures including in recently consumed food. An environmental investigation mapped the food preparation and storage areas, movements of staff caring for cases, relative case-bed locations, and duration of stay in these locations. Five of the seven hospital-acquired cases were immunocompromised with a history of prolonged and/or multiple hospital admissions. We found that STm 170 was probably brought into the hospital by a community-acquired case and spread to other in-patients through person-to-person transmission by hospital staff and/or patients. This study emphasises the importance of stringent compliance with hospital infection control practices at all times.



%0 Journal Article
%A Hort, K
%A Corbett, Stephen
%T Unwanted guests: the miseries, the dangers and the glorious future of biting insects and vector-borne diseases in New South Wales
%B NSW Public Health Bulletin
%D 2004
%C Australia
%I CSIRO Publishing
%V 15
%N 11-12
%P 191-192
%@ 1034-7674
%X 
%Z FOR Codes: 111799



%0 Journal Article
%~ Pubmed
%A Lister, S
%A Sheppeard, V
%A Morgan, G
%A Corbett, S
%A Kaldor, J
%A Henry, R
%T February asthma outbreaks in NSW: a case control study.
%B Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health
%D 2001
%V 25
%N 6
%P 514-9
%@ 1326-0200
%X OBJECTIVES: To investigate individual factors associated with an asthma outbreak among children aged one to 14 years in Sydney in February 1999. METHODS: A case control study was undertaken with cases (n=92) defined as all children admitted to Sydney Children's Hospital for asthma in February 1999. Unmatched controls (n=76) were all children admitted for asthma in the previous three months. We obtained information by a structured telephone survey of parents. Logistic regression analyses were used to determine odds ratios for risk factors for hospital admission. RESULTS: Mean age for hospital admission of 4.7 years for cases and 4.4 years for controls. The presence of one or more siblings reduced the risk of admission during an asthma outbreak (OR=0.59, 95% CI 0.37 to 0.93). Children with older siblings aged 10 to 14 years were also less likely to be admitted (OR=0.3, 95% CI 0.12 to 0.74). An age effect was observed. Other demographic, clinical and environmental characteristics, including smoking, were not associated with admission during the outbreak. CONCLUSIONS: The main findings of this study are the protective effect of siblings and an age-dependent effect in risk of hospital admission during an asthma outbreak. These findings are consistent with an infective cause of the outbreak. IMPLICATIONS: Children without siblings, particularly older siblings, appear to be at highest risk of hospital admission during an asthma outbreak. Environmental and other factors need to be examined to further explain the episodicity of such outbreaks and to determine means of predicting and preventing future episodes.