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Objective: Examine the changes in service delivery Australian public sexual health clinics made to remain open during lockdown. Methods: A cross‐sectional survey designed and delivered on Qualtrics was emailed to 21 directors of public sexual health clinics across Australia from July‐August 2020 and asked about a variety of changes to service delivery. Descriptive statistics were calculated. Results: Twenty clinics participated, all remained open and reported service changes, including suspension of walk‐in services in eight clinics. Some clinics stopped offering asymptomatic screening for varying patient populations. Most clinics transitioned to a mix of telehealth and face‐to‐face consultations. Nineteen clinics reported delays in testing and 13 reported limitations in testing. Most clinics changed to phone consultations for HIV medication refills (n=15) and eleven clinics prescribed longer repeat prescriptions. Fourteen clinics had staff redeployed to assist the COVID‐19 response. Conclusion: Public sexual health clinics pivoted service delivery to reduce risk of COVID‐19 transmission in clinical settings, managed staffing reductions and delays in molecular testing, and maintained a focus on urgent and symptomatic STI presentations and those at higher risk of HIV/STI acquisition. Implications for public health: Further research is warranted to understand what impact reduced asymptomatic screening may have had on community STI transmission.

Objectives: As HIV-positive people age, diagnosis and management of comorbidities associated with ageing are of increasing concern. In this study, we aimed to compare the self-reported prevalences of heart disease, stroke, thrombosis and diabetes in older Australian HIV-positive and HIV-negative gay and bisexual men (GBM). Methods: We analysed data from the Australian Positive & Peers Longevity Evaluation Study (APPLES), a study of a prospectively recruited cross-sectional sample of 228 (51.1%) HIV-positive and 218 (48.9%) HIV-negative GBM, aged >= 55 years. Regression methods were used to assess the association of HIV status with self-reported comorbidities. Results: Of 446 patients, 389 [200 (51.4%) HIV-positive] reported their disease history. The reported prevalence of comorbidities was higher in the HIV-positive group than in the HIV-negative group: heart disease, 19.5 versus 12.2%; stroke, 7.5 versus 4.2%; thrombosis, 10.5 versus 4.2%; and diabetes, 15.0 versus 9.0%, respectively. In adjusted analyses, HIV-positive GBM had significantly increased odds of reporting heart disease [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 1.99; P = 0.03] and thrombosis (aOR 2.87; P = 0.01). In our analysis, HIV status was not significantly associated with either age at diagnosis of heart disease (median 53 years for HIV-positive GBM versus 55 years for HIV-negative GBM; P = 0.64) or 5-year cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk estimated using the Framingham risk score. Conclusions: HIV-positive GBM more commonly reported heart disease and thrombosis compared with their HIV-negative peers. These results further highlight the need to understand the impact of HIV on age-related comorbidities in GBM, to guide optimal screening and treatment strategies to reduce the risk of these comorbidities among the HIV-positive population.

This study aimed to document the vitamin D status of HIV-infected individuals across a wide latitude range in one country and to examine associated risk factors for low vitamin D. Using data from patients attending four HIV specialist clinics across a wide latitude range in Australia, we constructed logistic regression models to investigate risk factors associated with 25(OH)D < 75 nmol L. 1788 patients were included; 87% were male, 76% Caucasian and 72% on antiretroviral therapy. The proportion with 25(OH)D < 50 nmol L was 27%, and

Background Emergency access targets have been implemented Australia-wide following recent retrospective cohort studies linking emergency department (ED) overcrowding and excess mortality. Aim To examine the impact of ED access targets on the characteristics and health service utilisation of general medicine (GM) inpatients at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. Methods A retrospective cohort study was conducted on all patient episodes admitted from ED to GM units from January 2009 to December 2012 (n = 15562), compared in two cohorts for 24 months before (n = 7393) and after (n = 8169) the implementation of the ‘4-h rule’. The main outcome measures were age, comorbidity, clinical urgency at presentation (Australasian Triage Score), ED and inpatient length of stay, diagnosis at discharge, and in-hospital complications. Results After the implementation of the ‘4-h rule’, there was an increased proportion of younger patients aged ≤50 years (7.7–9.1%), urgent Australasian Triage Scale 3 (45.6–49.7%) and semi-urgent Australasian Triage Scale 4 (21.8–27.6%) patients admitted to GM. On average, GM patients had fewer comorbid conditions (proportion with Charlson score ≥6 decreased from 14.2% to 11.9%), and higher proportions (21.8–24.7%) were admitted for less than 48 h. Conclusion Implementation of a 4-h access target has been associated with changes to the characteristics of patients admitted to GM, including higher proportions of younger patients, with fewer comorbid conditions and lower clinical urgency at presentation, although the latter may be explained by a coincidental change in the way that ED patients were triaged, as well as a greater number of these patients presenting to ED overall.

Background: There are delays in implementing evidence about effective therapy into clinical practice. Clinical indicators may support implementation of guideline recommendations. Aim: To develop and evaluate the short-term impact of a clinical indicator set for general medicine. Methods: A set of clinical process indicators was developed using a structured process. The indicator set was implemented between January 2006 and December 2006, using strategies based on evidence about effectiveness and local contextual factors. Evaluation included a structured survey of general medical staff to assess awareness and attitudes towards the programme and qualitative assessment of barriers to implementation. Impact on documentation of adherence to clinical indicators was assessed by auditing a random sample of medical records before (2003–2005) and after (2006) implementation. Results: Clinical indicators were developed for the following areas: venous thromboembolism, cognition, chronic heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, low trauma fracture, patient written care plans. The programme was well supported and incurred little burden to staff. Implementation occurred largely as planned; however, documentation of adherence to clinical indicators was variable. There was a generally positive trend over time, but for most indicators this was independent of the implementation process and may have been influenced by other system improvement activities. Failure to demonstrate a significant impact during the pilot phase is likely to have been influenced by administrative factors, especially lack of an integrative data documentation and collection process. Conclusion: Successful implementation in phase two is likely to depend upon an effective data collection system integrated into usual care.

OBJECTIVE To estimate the rate of combination antiretroviral treatment change and factors associated with combination antiretroviral treatment change among patients recruited in the Australian HIV Observational Database (AHOD). METHODS Analyses were based on patients in the AHOD who had commenced combination antiretroviral treatment after 1 January 1997. Combination antiretroviral treatment change was defined as the addition or change of at least one antiretroviral drug. A random-effect Poisson regression model was used to assess factors associated with increased rates of combination antiretroviral treatment change. RESULTS A total of 596 patients in the AHOD were included in the analysis, with a median follow-up of 2.3 years. The overall rate of antiretroviral treatment change in this group was 0.45 combinations per year. In a multivariate analysis, a low CD4 count (< 200 cells/microL) at baseline was associated with an increased rate of treatment change [rate ratio (RR)=1.43; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.13, 1.80; P=0.003)]. Combinations including a nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor were also associated with slower rates of change than treatment combinations including a protease inhibitor (RR=0.64, 95% CI, 0.51, 0.80, P < 0.001). CONCLUSION Initiating combination antiretroviral at a CD4 cell count < 200 cells/microL may be associated with poorer patient outcomes. However, the possibility that clinician or patient concerns about low immunological status led to faster rates of treatment change in this group cannot be discounted.

[Extract] Sexual health is rather a difficult thing to define. A current Medline search for ‘sexual health’ throws up over 1000 articles since 1975, and it becomes clear that, despite its widespread use, sexual health as a concept has a number of different meanings to a number of different people.