Aim: To describe the prevalence, circumstances and consequences of falls among community-dwelling older people in NSW using data from the 2009 NSW Falls Prevention Baseline Survey. Methods: Telephone interviews with a random sample of 5681 NSW residents aged 65 years and over were conducted in 2009. Results: Of those surveyed, 25.6% reported falling in the last year. Of those who fell, 61.2% fell once, 21.4% fell twice, 7.8% fell three times, and 9.5% fell four or more times in the last year. Sixty-six percent of those who fell in the last year were injured and 20.0% visited a hospital as a result of a fall. The most common injuries were cuts, grazes or bruises (71.0%) and sprains or strains (9.9%). Conclusion: The findings of this survey are consistent with previous findings in the published fall injury prevention literature. The results from the survey will assist in the design of community oriented fall injury prevention strategies and will form the baseline measure for the evaluation of the impact of these strategies in NSW.

Baseline data is necessary for monitoring how a population perceives the threat of pandemic influenza, and perceives how it would behave in the event of pandemic influenza. Our aim was to develop a module of questions for use in telephone health surveys on perceptions of threat of pandemic influenza, and on preparedness to comply with specific public health behaviours in the event of pandemic influenza.

Background: As older adults approach the end‐of‐life (EOL), many are faced with complex decisions including whether to use medical advances to prolong life. Limited information exists on the priorities of older adults at the EOL.Objective: This study aimed to explore patient and family experiences and identify factors deemed important to quality EOL care.Method: A descriptive qualitative study involving three focus group discussions (n = 18) and six in‐depth interviews with older adults suffering from either a terminal condition and/or caregivers were conducted in NSW, Australia. Data were analysed thematically.Results: Seven major themes were identified as follows: quality as a priority, sense of control, life on hold, need for health system support, being at home, talking about death and competent and caring health professionals. An underpinning priority throughout the seven themes was knowing and adhering to patient's wishes.Conclusion: Our study highlights that to better adhere to EOL patient's wishes a reorganization of care needs is required. The readiness of the health system to cater for this expectation is questionable as real choices may not be available in acute hospital settings. With an ageing population, a reorganization of care which influences the way we manage terminal patients is required.

Population health research is increasingly focused on the genetic determinants of healthy ageing, but there is no public resource of whole genome sequences and phenotype data from healthy elderly individuals. Here we describe the first release of the Medical Genome Reference Bank (MGRB), comprising whole genome sequence and phenotype of 2570 elderly Australians depleted for cancer, cardiovascular disease, and dementia. We analyse the MGRB for single-nucleotide, indel and structural variation in the nuclear and mitochondrial genomes. MGRB individuals have fewer disease-associated common and rare germline variants, relative to both cancer cases and the gnomAD and UK Biobank cohorts, consistent with risk depletion. Age-related somatic changes are correlated with grip strength in men, suggesting blood-derived whole genomes may also provide a biologic measure of age-related functional deterioration. The MGRB provides a broadly applicable reference cohort for clinical genetics and genomic association studies, and for understanding the genetics of healthy ageing.

Peer reviewed article authored by (Melanie Taylor, Beverley Raphael, Margo Barr, Kingsley Agho, Garry Stevens, Louisa Jorm). Read article or submit your manuscript for publishing.

A population-based survey of knowledge of first aid for burns in New South Wales