Background: Overweight and obesity impose a significant health burden in Australia, predominantly the middle-aged and older adults. Studies of the association between obesity and chronic diseases are primarily based on cross-sectional data, which is insufficient to deduce a temporal relationship. Using nationally representative panel data, this study aims to investigate whether obesity is a significant risk factor for type 2 diabetes, heart diseases, asthma, arthritis, and depression in Australian middle-aged and older adults. Methods: Longitudinal data comprising three waves (waves 9, 13 and 17) of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey were used in this study. This study fitted longitudinal random-effect logistic regression models to estimate the between-person differences in the association between obesity and chronic diseases. Results: The findings indicated that obesity was associated with a higher prevalence of chronic diseases among Australian middle-aged and older adults. Obese adults (Body Mass Index [BMI] ≥ 30) were at 12.76, 2.05, 1.97, 2.25, and 1.96, times of higher risks of having type 2 diabetes (OR: 12.76, CI 95%: 8.88–18.36), heart disease (OR: 2.05, CI 95%: 1.54–2.74), asthma (OR: 1.97, CI 95%: 1.49–2.62), arthritis (OR: 2.25, 95% CI: 1.90–2.68) and depression (OR: 1.96, CI 95%: 1.56–2.48), respectively, compared with healthy weight counterparts. However, the study did not find any evidence of a statistically significant association between obesity and cancer. Besides, gender stratified regression results showed that obesity is associated with a higher likelihood of asthma (OR: 2.64, 95% CI: 1.84–3.80) among female adults, but not in the case of male adults. Conclusion: Excessive weight is strongly associated with a higher incidence of chronic disease in Australian middle-aged and older adults. This finding has clear public health implications. Health promotion programs and strategies would be helpful to meet the challenge of excessive weight gain and thus contribute to the prevention of chronic diseases.

The prevalence of overweight and obesity has been increasing globally and has become a significant public health concern in Australia in the two past decades. This study explores the most recent national prevalence and trends of adult overweight and obesity in Australia. It will also investigate geographic remoteness as a potential risk factor for an individual being overweight or obese in adulthood. A retrospective longitudinal study that utilised 14 successive waves (wave 6 through 19) of a nationally representative linked individual-level survey. Data was obtained from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey. The data on 199,675 observations from 26,713 individuals aged ≥ 15 years over the period 2006 to 2019 was analysed. Random-effects logit model was employed to estimate the association between geographic remoteness and the risk of excessive weight gain. The results reveal that the prevalence of overweight, obesity and combined overweight and obesity among Australian adults in 2019 were 34%, 26% and 60%, respectively. The analysis shows that the prevalence of overweight and obesity varies by geographic remoteness. Adults from regional city urban (OR 1.53, 95% CI 1.16–2.03) and rural areas (OR 1.32, 95% CI 1.18–1.47) were more likely to be obese compared with their counterparts from major city urban areas. The results also show that adults living in major city urban areas, regional city urban areas, and regional city rural areas in Australia were 1.53 (OR 1.53, 95% CI 1.16–2.03), 1.32 (OR 1.32, 95% CI 1.18–1.47), and 1.18 (OR 1.18, 95% CI 1.08–1.29) times more likely to be overweight compared with their counterparts from major city urban areas in Australia. Substantial geographic variation in the prevalence of overweight and obesity exists among Australian adults and appears to be increasing. Public health measures should focus on contextual obesogenic factors and behavioural characteristics to curb the rising prevalence of adult obesity.

People with chronic conditions such as cancer, kidney disease, lung disease, diabetes, dementia, obesity, and heart conditions are at elevated risk of developing severe complications, and are thus at greater risk of death due to COVID-19. The COVID-19 vaccine is an effective measure to manage the pandemic as it prevents severe illness and death. Nevertheless, many people are hesitant to receive the COVID-19 vaccine due to fear of its side effects. The aim of this study was to identify the risk and protective factors of accepting COVID-19 vaccination among Saudi Arabian people with chronic diseases. This study extracted data from an online cross-sectional self-reported questionnaire conducted on the acceptability of a COVID-19 vaccine in Saudi Arabia in December 2020. The study included a sample of 521 adults who self-reported that they had chronic diseases. Multivariable regression analyses were employed to identify the factors associated with accepting COVID-19 vaccination in Saudi Arabia. The estimates were adjusted for confounding variables, including socio-demographic factors. Among the sampled participants of Saudi adults with chronic diseases, approximately 52% indicated that they were willing to accept the COVID-19 vaccine. Participants had higher willingness to accept the vaccine if they received the seasonal influenza vaccination in the past [odds ratio (OR): 2.179; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.222-3.888], reported high or very high levels of concern about contracting COVID-19 (OR: 2.426; 95% CI: 1.209-4.867), or believed in mandatory COVID-19 vaccination (OR: 84.848; 95% CI: 37.651-191.207). Participants had lower willingness to be vaccinated if they had a history of vaccine refusal (OR: 0.211; 95% CI: 0.088-0.504). Among the socio-demographic factors, being male (OR: 2.153; 95% CI: 1.007-4.603), having a postgraduate degree (OR: 2.408; 95% CI: 0.985-5.886), and being unemployed (OR: 2.780; 95% CI: 0.876-8.827) were associated with an increased willingness of receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. The findings of this study demonstrate that willingness to receive COVID-19 vaccination among Saudi Arabian adults with chronic conditions is low. Therefore, further policy measures are required to manage COVID-19-related infections and the death toll.

Sleep difficulty is an unmet public health concern affecting a vast proportion of the world's population. Poor sleep duration (short or long sleep length) and quality affect more than half of older people. Sleep difficulty is associated with negative health outcomes such as obesity and reduced longevity. We aimed to assess whether poor sleep duration and quality are significant risk factors for obesity in adults aged 15 and over in Australia by examining a nationally representative panel data. We used three waves (waves 13, 17, and 21) of the nationally representative Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey data. The study applied generalized estimating equations (GEE) logistic regression model to assess the relationship between sleep duration and quality with obesity. The study found that the odds of being obese was significantly higher amongst the study participants with poor sleep duration (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 1.24, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.16-1.32) and poor sleep quality (aOR: 1.29, 95% CI: 1.02-1.38) compared with their counterparts who had good sleep duration and quality, respectively. Having short or long sleep at night and poor sleep quality are associated with an increased risk of obesity. Obesity poses a significant threat to the health of Australian adults. Enacting policies that raise public awareness of the significance of good sleep hygiene and encouraging healthy sleeping habits should be considered to address the alarming rise in the obesity rate.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programs are established to be cost-effective before implementation. WHO recommends HPV vaccination for girls aged 9–13 years to tackle the high burden of cervical cancer. This review examined the existing evidence on the cost-effectiveness of the 9-valent HPV vaccine within a global context. The literature search covering a period of January 2000 to 31 July 2019 was conducted in PubMed and Scopus bibliographic databases. A combined checklist (i.e., WHO, Drummond and CHEERS) was used to examine the quality of eligible studies. A total of 12 studies were eligible for this review and most of them were conducted in developed countries. Despite some heterogeneity in approaches to measure cost-effectiveness, ten studies concluded that 9vHPV vaccination was cost-effective and two did not. The addition of adolescent boys into immunisation programs was cost effective when vaccine price and coverage was comparatively low. When vaccination coverage for females was more than 75%, gender neutral HPV vaccination was less cost-effective than vaccination targeting only girls aged 9–18 years. Multi cohort immunization approach was found cost-effective in the age range of 9–14 years. However, the upper age limit at which vaccination was found not cost-effective requires further evaluation. This review identified duration of vaccine protection, time horizon, vaccine price, coverage, healthcare costs, efficacy and discounting rates as the most dominating parameters in determining cost-effectiveness. These findings have implications in extending HPV immunization programs whether switching to the 9-valent vaccine or the inclusion of adolescent boys’ vaccination or extending the age of vaccination. Further, this review also supports extending vaccination programs to low-resource settings where vaccine prices are competitive, donor funding is available, burden of cervical cancer is high and screening options are limited.