Associate Professor Kym Rae

© 2017 S. Karger AG, Basel. Personalised medicine is a newly emerging field with much to offer to all populations in improved clinical treatment options. Since the 1970s, clinicians and researchers have all been working towards improving the health of Indigenous Australians. However, there has been little research on the impact of genetics on Indigenous health, how genetic and environmental factors interact to contribute to poor health in Indigenous people, and how genetic factors specific to Indigenous people affect their responses to particular treatments. This short review highlights the urgent need for more genetic studies specific to Indigenous people in order to provide more appropriate care and to improve health outcomes. This paper explores why genetic work with Indigenous communities has bee n limited, how personalised medicine could benefit Indigenous communities, and highlights a number of specific instances in which personalised medicine has been critical for improving morbidity and mortality in other high-risk groups. In order to take the next step in advancing the health of Indigenous peoples, targeted research into the genetic factors behind chronic diseases is critically needed. This research may allow clinicians a better understanding of how genetic factors interact with environmental factors to influence an Indigenous Australian's individual risk of disease, prognosis, and response to therapies. It is hoped that this knowledge will produce clinical interventions that will help deliver clearly targeted, more appropriate care to this at-risk population.

© 2017 The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Background: Pregnancy can be a stressful time for many women. There is ample evidence of numerous physical and mental health inequities for Indigenous Australians. For those Indigenous women who are pregnant, it is established that there is a higher incidence of poor physical perinatal outcomes when compared with non-Indigenous Australians. However, little evidence exists that examines stressful events and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in pregnant women who are members of this community. Aims: To quantify the rates of stressful events and PTSD symptoms in pregnant Indigenous women. Methods: One hundred and fifty rural and remote Indigenous women were invited to complete a survey during each trimester of their pregnancy. The survey measures were the stressful life events and the Impact of Events Scale. Results: Extremely high rates of PTSD symptoms were reported by participants. Approximately 40% of this group exhibited PTSD symptoms during their pregnancy with mean score 33.38 (SD¿=¿14.37) significantly higher than a study of European victims of crisis, including terrorism attacks (20.6, SD¿=¿18.5). Conclusions: The extreme levels of PTSD symptoms found in the women participating in this study are likely to result in negative implications for both mother and infant. An urgent response must be mounted at government, health, community development and research levels to address these findings. Immediate attention needs to focus on the development of interventions to address the¿high¿levels of PTSD symptoms that pregnant Australian Indigenous women¿experience.

© Australian Health Promotion Association 2016. Issue addressed Undergraduate dietetic students are required to demonstrate cultural awareness and culturally respectful communication to meet national competencies, but exposure to practical experiences may be limited. The Gomeroi gaaynggal ArtsHealth Centre was established in 2009 after community consultation with the Indigenous community in Tamworth, New South Wales. The Centre provides a safe and welcoming space where women can create art while discussing health issues with visiting health professionals and students. The present study aimed to evaluate the cultural experiences of student and new-graduate dietitians visiting an Aboriginal ArtsHealth centre through a quality assurance project. Methods Six student and new-graduate dietitians were invited to provide feedback on their experiences for this report. A generic inductive approach was used for qualitative data analysis. Results Key qualitative themes of 'building rapport' and 'developing cultural understanding' were identified. Four of the participants interviewed felt they gained a deeper understanding of the context around health disparity for Indigenous Australians through their experiences. Key ways to build rapport with community members were identified. Conclusions Results suggest that first-hand experiences working in an Aboriginal ArtsHealth centre are effective in building cultural competency skills for student and new-graduate dietitians. These experiences could be better supported through improved preparation for the cultural setting, and ongoing monitoring of participant experiences is recommended. So what? The authors encourage undergraduate dietetic programs and students to seek out opportunities for further development of cultural awareness through increased practical experiences working with Indigenous communities.

© Cambridge University Press and the International Society for Developmental Origins of Health and Disease 2016. Indigenous Australians have high rates of chronic diseases, the causes of which are complex and include social and environmental determinants. Early experiences in utero may also predispose to later-life disease development. The Gomeroi gaaynggal study was established to explore intrauterine origins of renal disease, diabetes and growth in order to inform the development of health programmes for Indigenous Australian women and children. Pregnant women are recruited from antenatal clinics in Tamworth, Newcastle and Walgett, New South Wales, Australia, by Indigenous research assistants. Measures are collected at three time points in pregnancy and from women and their children at up to eight time points in the child's first 5 years. Measures of fetal renal development and function include ultrasound and biochemical biomarkers. Dietary intake, infant feeding and anthropometric measurements are collected. Standardized procedures and validated tools are used where available. Since 2010 the study has recruited over 230 women, and retained 66 postpartum. Recruitment is ongoing, and Gomeroi gaaynggal is currently the largest Indigenous pregnancy-through-early-childhood cohort internationally. Baseline median gestational age was 39.1 weeks (31.5-43.2, n=110), median birth weight was 3180 g (910-5430 g, n=110). Over one third (39.3%) of infants were admitted to special care or neonatal nursery. Nearly half of mothers (47.5%) reported tobacco smoking during pregnancy. Results of the study will contribute to knowledge about origins of chronic disease in Indigenous Australians and nutrition and growth of women and their offspring during pregnancy and postpartum. Study strengths include employment and capacity-building of Indigenous staff and the complementary ArtsHealth programme.

© 2015 Pringle, Rae, Weatherall, Hall, Burns, Smith, Lumbers and Blackwell. Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), neonatal deaths, and deaths from infection are higher among Indigenous Australians. This study aimed to determine the effects of inflammatory responses and exposure to cigarette smoke, two important factors associated with sudden death in infancy, on preterm birth, and birth weight in a cohort of Indigenous mothers. Indigenous Australian women (n = 131) were recruited as part of a longitudinal study while attending antenatal care clinics during pregnancy; blood samples were collected up to three times in pregnancy. Serum cotinine, indicating exposure to cigarette smoke, was detected in 50.4% of mothers. Compared with non-Indigenous women, the cohort had 10 times the prevalence of antibodies to Helicobacter pylori (33 vs. 3%). Levels of immunoglobulin G, antibodies to H. pylori, and C-reactive protein (CRP) were all inversely correlated with gestational age (P < 0.05). CRP levels were positively associated with maternal body mass index (BMI; ¿ = 0.449, P = 0.001). The effects of cigarette smoke (cotinine) and inflammation (CRP) were assessed in relation to risk factors for SIDS: gestational age at delivery and birth weight. Serum cotinine levels were negatively associated with birth weight (¿ = -0.37, P < 0.001), this correlation held true for both male (¿ = -0.39, P = 0.002) and female (¿ = -0.30, P = 0.017) infants. Cotinine was negatively associated with gestational age at delivery (¿ = -0.199, P = 0.023). When assessed by fetal sex, this was significant only for males (¿ = -0.327, P = 0.011). CRP was negatively associated with gestational age at delivery for female infants (¿ = -0.46, P < 0.001). In contrast, maternal BMI was significantly correlated with birth weight. These data highlight the importance of putting programs in place to reduce cigarette smoke exposure in pregnancy and to treat women with chronic infections such as H. pylori to improve pregnancy outcomes and decrease risk factors for sudden death in infancy.

Background and aims Families in rural Australia are at higher risk of preterm birth and have poorer access to health services. This paper reviews the literature on parenting premature infants and asks why so few studies examine the experiences of rurally residing parents. Methods CINAHL, Medline, Embase and the Maternity and Infant Care databases were searched and articles were analysed using qualitative content analysis. Results The literature search returned 17,237 articles, of which 23 met the inclusion criteria. One article examined experiences of rurally residing parents and no articles included Indigenous Australians. The following four themes emerged: The NICU environment, detailed parents' need to adjust to the NICU environment before they focus on their child. Connectedness, described connections parents develop to cope. Fragility refers to parents' perception of their premature infant as fragile and their fragile confidence in their parenting ability. Touch described the importance of touch and the distress caused by restriction of touch. Conclusions The evidence describing parenting a premature infant lacks accounts of different socio-economic and cultural groups, particularly rural families and Indigenous Australians. Implications for clinical practice Despite facing additional challenges accessing specialist care and local follow-up services, little is known about the experiences of rural parents.