ORCID Profile
0000-0001-9928-5090
Current Organisations
Bowling Green State University
,
The University of Auckland
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Publisher: Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Date: 08-2009
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2010
DOI: 10.1016/J.DIABRES.2010.05.012
Abstract: The aim of these analyses was to examine the efficacy of the intensive gliclazide MR-based glucose lowering regimen used in the ADVANCE trial in lowering the level of glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c). All 11,140 randomised patients were included in analyses of treatment efficacy. Treatment efficacy was also examined in subgroups defined by baseline characteristics and treatments. At the end of 5 years follow-up, the mean HbA1c was reduced from 7.5% at baseline to 6.5% in those on intensive glucose control and to 7.3% in those on standard glucose control. With intensive glucose lowering greater proportions achieved HbA1c levels of < or =7.0%, < or =6.5% and < or =6.0%. With intensive glucose lowering substantial reductions in HbA1c were observed across subgroups defined by baseline age, sex, duration of diabetes, BMI, HbA1c or treatment regimen (p<0.0001). The main independent predictors of reduction in HbA1c during follow-up were baseline HbA1c, duration of diabetes and BMI. There was no weight gain in the intensive glucose control group and severe hypoglycaemia was uncommon, though more frequent than in the standard control group. Intensive glucose control with a gliclazide MR-based regimen was well tolerated and consistently effective in lowering HbA1c across a broad range of patient with type 2 diabetes.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 28-01-2011
Publisher: JMIR Publications Inc.
Date: 04-08-2017
Abstract: ocially assistive robots are being developed for patients to help manage chronic health conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Adherence to medication and availability of rehabilitation are suboptimal in this patient group, which increases the risk of hospitalization. his pilot study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of a robot delivering telehealth care to increase adherence to medication and home rehabilitation, improve quality of life, and reduce hospital readmission compared with a standard care control group. t discharge from hospital for a COPD admission, 60 patients were randomized to receive a robot at home for 4 months or to a control group. Number of hospitalization days for respiratory admissions over the 4-month study period was the primary outcome. Medication adherence, frequency of rehabilitation exercise, and quality of life were also assessed. Implementation interviews as well as benefit-cost analysis were conducted. ntention-to-treat and per protocol analyses showed no significant differences in the number of respiratory-related hospitalizations between groups. The intervention group was more adherent to their long-acting inhalers (mean number of prescribed puffs taken per day=48.5%) than the control group (mean 29.5%, P=.03, d=0.68) assessed via electronic recording. Self-reported adherence was also higher in the intervention group after controlling for covariates (P=.04). The intervention group increased their rehabilitation exercise frequency compared with the control group (mean difference −4.53, 95% CI −7.16 to −1.92). There were no significant differences in quality of life. Of the 25 patients who had the robot, 19 had favorable attitudes. his pilot study suggests that a homecare robot can improve adherence to medication and increase exercise. Further research is needed with a larger s le size to further investigate effects on hospitalizations after improvements are made to the robots. The robots could be especially useful for patients struggling with adherence. ustralian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12615000259549 www.anzctr.org.au (Archived by WebCite at whIjptLS)
Publisher: JMIR Publications Inc.
Date: 13-02-2018
DOI: 10.2196/JMIR.8640
Publisher: Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Date: 04-2009
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 18-03-2021
DOI: 10.1038/S41598-021-85557-Z
Abstract: Several early childhood obesity prediction models have been developed, but none for New Zealand's erse population. We aimed to develop and validate a model for predicting obesity in 4–5-year-old New Zealand children, using parental and infant data from the Growing Up in New Zealand (GUiNZ) cohort. Obesity was defined as body mass index (BMI) for age and sex ≥ 95th percentile. Data on GUiNZ children were used for derivation (n = 1731) and internal validation (n = 713). External validation was performed using data from the Prevention of Overweight in Infancy Study (POI, n = 383) and Pacific Islands Families Study (PIF, n = 135) cohorts. The final model included: birth weight, maternal smoking during pregnancy, maternal pre-pregnancy BMI, paternal BMI, and infant weight gain. Discrimination accuracy was adequate [AUROC = 0.74 (0.71–0.77)], remained so when validated internally [AUROC = 0.73 (0.68–0.78)] and externally on PIF [AUROC = 0.74 [0.66–0.82)] and POI [AUROC = 0.80 (0.71–0.90)]. Positive predictive values were variable but low across the risk threshold range (GUiNZ derivation 19–54% GUiNZ validation 19–48% and POI 8–24%), although more consistent in the PIF cohort (52–61%), all indicating high rates of false positives. Although this early childhood obesity prediction model could inform early obesity prevention, high rates of false positives might create unwarranted anxiety for families.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 11-03-2009
Abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate serious clinical outcomes associated with atrial fibrillation (AF) and the effects of routine blood pressure lowering on such outcomes in the presence or absence of AF, among in iduals with type 2 diabetes. About 11 140 patients with type 2 diabetes (7.6% of whom had AF at baseline) were randomized to a fixed combination of perindopril and indapamide or placebo in the Action in Diabetes and Vascular Disease: preterAx and diamicroN-MR Controlled Evaluation (ADVANCE) study. We compared total mortality and cardiovascular disease outcomes and effects of randomized treatment for 4.3 years on such outcomes between patients with and without AF at baseline. After multiple adjustments, AF was associated with a 61% (95% confidence interval 31-96, P < 0.0001) greater risk of all-cause mortality and comparable higher risks of cardiovascular death, stroke, and heart failure (all P < 0.001). Routine treatment with a fixed combination of perindopril and indapamide produced similar relative, but greater absolute, risk reductions for all-cause and cardiovascular mortalities in patients with AF, compared with those without AF. The number of patients needed to be treated with perindopril-indapamide for 5 years to prevent one cardiovascular death was 42 for patients with AF and 120 for patients without AF at baseline. Atrial fibrillation is relatively common in type 2 diabetes and is associated with substantially increased risks of death and cardiovascular events in patients with type 2 diabetes. This arrhythmia identifies in iduals who are likely to obtain greater absolute benefits from blood pressure-lowering treatment. Atrial fibrillation in diabetic patients should be regarded as a marker of particularly adverse outcome and prompt aggressive management of all risk factors.
Publisher: American Chemical Society (ACS)
Date: 22-05-2023
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 30-11-2005
DOI: 10.1002/SIM.2421
Abstract: In the design of randomized clinical trials, balancing of treatment allocation across important prognostic factors (strata) improves the efficiency of the final comparisons. Whilst randomization methods exist which attempt to balance treatments across the strata (permuted blocks, minimization, biased coin), these approaches assign equal importance for all the strata. Dynamic balancing randomization (DBR) is a tree-based method proposed by Signorini et al. allowing different levels of imbalance in different strata which ensures a balance for each level of prognostic risk factors (conditional balance) whilst at the same time preserving randomness. We present a simple modification to the original approach to maintain a marginal balance over important strata and examine the properties of this modification. Two important measures of performance are used to provide comparisons between the approaches: a loss function, which can be interpreted as the squared norm of the imbalance vector, and a forcing index which conveys the degree of randomness. A comparison of DBR with minimization and a biased coin design is carried out by simulation on two simulated trials.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 22-06-2013
Abstract: Māori are disproportionately affected by cardiovascular disease (CVD), which is the main reason for the eight year difference in life expectancy between Māori and non-Māori. The primary care-based IMPACT (IMProving Adherence using Combination Therapy) trial evaluates whether fixed dose combination therapy (a “polypill”) improves adherence to guideline-based therapy compared with current care among people at high risk of CVD. Interventions shown in trials to be effective do not necessarily reduce ethnic disparities, and may in fact widen them. Indigenous populations with poorer health outcomes are often under-represented in trials so the effect of interventions cannot be assessed for them, specifically. Therefore, the IMPACT trial aimed to recruit as many Māori as non-Māori to assess the consistency of the effect of the polypill. This paper describes the methods and results of the recruitment strategy used to achieve this. Experienced Māori researchers were involved in trial governance throughout trial development and conduct. The trial Steering Committee included leading Māori researchers and was committed to equal recruitment of Māori and non-Māori. Additional funding and Māori research nurses were sought to allow home-based assessment, establishment of the relationship between research nurse and participant, more family involvement prior to enrollment, continuity of the research nurse-participant relationship, and acknowledgement of other Māori culturally important procedures, interactions, language and manners. Primary care practices with high enrollment of Māori were targeted, with over-s ling of potentially eligible Māori patients, lower thresholds for screening of Māori and 6 months continued Māori recruitment after non-Māori recruitment had finished. A total of 257 Māori and 256 non-Māori participants were randomized. Four Māori and eight non-Māori participants were randomized per research nurse per month. Potentially eligible Māori were more likely than non-Māori to proceed to subsequent stages of recruitment. Differences between randomized Māori and non-Māori were evident (e.g. Maori were less likely to have established coronary artery disease). Recruitment of equal numbers of indigenous and non-indigenous participants is possible if it is prioritised, adequately resourced and self-determination is supported. The trial is registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry ACTRN12606000067572
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 2004
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 11-10-2018
DOI: 10.1111/ALL.13615
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 18-08-2009
DOI: 10.1007/S00125-009-1484-7
Abstract: The relationship between cognitive function, cardiovascular disease and premature death is not well established in patients with type 2 diabetes. We assessed the effects of cognitive function in 11,140 patients with type 2 diabetes who participated in the Action in Diabetes and Vascular Disease: Preterax and Diamicron Modified Release Controlled Evaluation (ADVANCE) trial. Furthermore, we tested whether level of cognitive function altered the beneficial effects of the BP-lowering and glycaemic-control regimens in the trial. Cognitive function was assessed using the Mini Mental State Examination at baseline, and defined by scores 28-30 ('normal', n = 8,689), 24-27 ('mild dysfunction', n = 2,231) and <24 ('severe dysfunction', n = 212). Risks of major cardiovascular events, death and hypoglycaemia and interactions with treatment were assessed using Cox proportional hazards analysis. Relative to normal function, both mild and severe cognitive dysfunction significantly increased the multiple-adjusted risks of major cardiovascular events (HR 1.27, 95% CI 1.11-1.46 and 1.42, 95% CI 1.01-1.99 both p < 0.05), cardiovascular death (1.41, 95% CI 1.16-1.71 and 1.56, 95% CI 0.99-2.46 both p <or= 0.05) and all-cause death (1.33, 95% CI 1.16-1.54 and 1.50, 95% CI 1.06-2.12 both p < 0.03). Severe, but not mild, cognitive dysfunction increased the risk of severe hypoglycaemia (HR 2.10, 95% CI 1.14-3.87 p = 0.018). There was no evidence of heterogeneity of treatment effects on cardiovascular outcomes in subgroups defined by cognitive function at baseline. Cognitive dysfunction is an independent predictor of clinical outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes, but does not modify the effects of BP lowering or glucose control on the risks of major cardiovascular events. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00145925.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 13-11-2018
DOI: 10.1017/S0950268818002935
Abstract: Significant ethnic and socio-economic disparities exist in infectious diseases (IDs) rates in New Zealand, so accurate measures of these characteristics are required. This study compared methods of ascribing ethnicity and socio-economic status. Children in the Growing Up in New Zealand longitudinal cohort were ascribed to self-prioritised, total response and single-combined ethnic groups. Socio-economic status was measured using household income, and both census-derived and survey-derived deprivation indices. Rates of ID hospitalisation were compared using linked administrative data. Self-prioritised ethnicity was simplest to use. Total response accounted for mixed ethnicity and allowed overlap between groups. Single-combined ethnicity required aggregation of small groups to maintain power but offered greater detail. Regardless of the method used, Māori and Pacific children, and children in the most socio-economically deprived households had a greater risk of ID hospitalisation. Risk differences between self-prioritised and total response methods were not significant for Māori and Pacific children but single-combined ethnicity revealed a ersity of risk within these groups. Household income was affected by non-random missing data. The census-derived deprivation index offered a high level of completeness with some risk of multicollinearity and concerns regarding the ecological fallacy. The survey-derived index required extra questions but was acceptable to participants and provided in idualised data. Based on these results, the use of single-combined ethnicity and an in idualised survey-derived index of deprivation are recommended where s le size and data structure allow it.
Publisher: American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)
Date: 15-08-2004
Abstract: To determine whether adding regular acetaminophen (paracetamol) could improve pain and well-being in people with advanced cancer and pain despite strong opioids. Participants took acetaminophen for 48 hours and placebo for 48 hours. The order (acetaminophen or placebo first) was randomly allocated. Pain was the primary outcome. Preferences, number of opioid breakthrough doses, overall well-being, nausea and vomiting, drowsiness, constipation, and cold sweats were secondary outcomes. Patients rated themselves daily with visual analog scales (VAS) and a verbal numeric scale (VNS) for pain, all scaled from 0 to 10. Thirty patients completed the trial. The oral opioid was morphine in 23 patients and hydromorphone in seven patients. The median daily opioid dose in oral morphine equivalents was 200 mg (range, 20 to 2,100 mg). Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, corticosteroids, or both were used by 16 patients. Pain and overall well-being were better for patients receiving acetaminophen than for those receiving placebo. The mean difference was 0.4 (95% CI, 0.1 to 0.8 P = .03) in VNS for pain, 0.6 (95% CI, −0.1 to 1.3 P = .09) in VAS for pain, and 0.7 (95% CI, 0.0 to 1.4 P = .05) in VAS for overall well-being. More patients preferred the period they took acetaminophen (n = 14) than the period they took placebo (n = 8), but many had no preference (n = 8). There were no differences in the other outcomes. Acetaminophen improved pain and well-being without major side effects in patients with cancer and persistent pain despite a strong opioid regimen. Its addition is worth considering in all such patients.
Location: Cuba
Location: Cuba
No related grants have been discovered for Avineshwaran Pillai.