Can CT screening for lung cancer in New Zealand be cost-effective?

Monday, September 28th, 2015 | Kate Sloane | 5 Comments

Dr Richard Jaine, Dr Nisha Nair and Professor Tony Blakely

CT screening for lung cancer -1There is now strong evidence that screening for lung cancer with low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) scans is effective at reducing lung cancer mortality. So why aren’t countries rushing to introduce a screening programme? Because there is still doubt about its cost-effectiveness. In this blog, we discuss the uncertainties and suggest a way forward for New Zealand.

Continue reading

Calculating cardiovascular risk with online calculators – scope for improvement?

Monday, September 21st, 2015 | Kate Sloane | 3 Comments

Associate Professor Nick Wilson, Dr Nhung Nghiem, Professor Tony Blakely, Professor Rod Jackson

CVD blog - know your numbersIt is now possible to readily estimate individual risk of future cardiovascular events with a large number of online calculators – including a NZ-specific calculator that has been available for some years (“Know Your Numbers”). In this blog we consider if such risk calculators could be improved upon. The clear answer being “yes” – and in many ways.

Continue reading

Beyond unhelpful dichotomies: a co-regulatory approach to protecting children from junk food marketing

Wednesday, September 9th, 2015 | Kate Sloane | No Comments

Amanda Wood, PhD candidate, University of Auckland

junk-food_19152The Health Minister is currently deciding how to best address children’s poor health due to diet-related diseases. It is a good time to reflect not only on the content of those approaches, but also the regulatory frameworks for those approaches. This blog explores a co-regulatory approach that could be applied to the strengthening of junk food marketing restrictions to children.

Continue reading

Smartphone apps for weight loss and smoking cessation

Monday, September 7th, 2015 | Kate Sloane | No Comments

Associate Professor Nick Wilson, Dr Christine Cleghorn, William Leung, Dr Osman David Mansoor

smartphoneAre smartphone apps for weight loss and smoking cessation well-designed? We were involved in a study published in last Friday’s NZ Medical Journal that tried to answer that question from a NZ public health perspective. In this blog we discuss what we found and its implications for ‘what next’ for using these new technological tools for health research and promotion in NZ.

Continue reading