The principal scientific journal for the profession in New Zealand

Reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) is associated with adverse clinical outcomes after acute coronary syndrome (ACS), and clinical trials have established the role of beta-blockers, angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEi), angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB) and aldosterone antagonists in patients with LVEF<40% post-ACS.

ARTICLE

Vol 134 No 1528: 15 January 2021

Radiological imaging of melanoma: a review to guide clinical practice in New Zealand

Victoria Francis, Tvesa Sehji, Mark Barnett, Richard CW Martin

The aim of this review is to propose guidelines for initial radiological staging and the follow-up imaging regime for melanoma.

ARTICLE

Vol 134 No 1528: 15 January 2021

A retrospective analysis of calls to the New Zealand National Poisons Centre regarding Pacific patients

Eeva-Katri Kumpula, Rosalina Richards, Pauline Norris, Vanda Symon, Adam C Pomerleau

Poisons information centres (PICs) offer advice on chemical safety, perform risk assessments over the phone in cases where a person has been exposed to a substance and provide clinical advice about management of the exposure.

ARTICLE

Vol 133 No 1572: 18 December 2020

Change in health profile of refugees resettling in New Zealand, 1980–2014

Martin Reeve

New Zealand’s refugee resettlement programme started officially in 1944 with the arrival of 800 Polish people. Following that, different groups of varying size and nationality arrived each year.

ARTICLE

Vol 133 No 1572: 18 December 2020

Improved foot management of people with diabetes by primary healthcare nurses in Auckland, New Zealand

Barbara Daly, Bruce Arroll, Krishnarajah Nirantharakumar, Robert Keith Rhodes Scragg

Foot disease is a common complication of diabetes with a lifetime risk of up to 15% to 25%, and it is the leading cause of lower-limb amputation.

ARTICLE

Vol 133 No 1572: 18 December 2020

Unplanned admissions to the Wellington Hospital intensive care unit before, during and after New Zealand’s COVID-19 lockdown | OPEN ACCESS

Paul J Young, Benjamin Gladwin, Alex Psirides, Alice Reid

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has placed unprecedented demand on healthcare services around the world. In some countries, surges in infection rates have overwhelmed the capacity of hospitals. Reported rates of intensive care unit (ICU) admission among patients with COVID-19 disease have varied widely from 3% to 100%.

ARTICLE

Vol 133 No 1572: 18 December 2020

Drug-induced ocular inflammation

Priya Samalia, Joanne Sims, Rachael Niederer

Drug-induced ocular inflammation is relatively rare. The most common cause is bisphosphonates, but a wide number of drugs have been implicated, including, most recently, new forms of cancer drugs such as immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICPI), B-raf (BRAF) inhibitors and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors.

EDITORIAL

Vol 134 No 1528: 15 January 2021

2021: here we come / tēnei te whakatau! | OPEN ACCESS

Suzanne Pitama, Tania Huria, Cameron Lacey

The New Zealand Medical Journal (NZMJ) was first published 47 years after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.

EDITORIAL

Vol 133 No 1572: 18 December 2020

COVID-19 outbreaks in Aotearoa New Zealand: urgent action is required to address systematic causes and consequences of border failures | OPEN ACCESS

Amanda Kvalsvig, Jennifer Summers, Lesley Gray, Lucy Telfar Barnard, Michael G Baker

By May 2020, Aotearoa New Zealand had successfully eliminated community transmission of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19). The only remaining source of new infections in this island nation was then by introduction through the border.

EDITORIAL

Vol 133 No 1526: 4 December 2020

Adequacy of publicly funded colonoscopy services in New Zealand

Philip Bagshaw, Brian Cox

Colonoscopy for the investigation of patients with colorectal disease has had a chequered history in New Zealand. In the 1980s, as endoscopic technology became more advanced and equipment more widely available, it was increasingly accepted as the investigation of choice for symptomatic patients, often through open access clinics.

EDITORIAL

Vol 133 No 1525: 20 November 2020

Ethnic inequity in diabetes outcomes—inaction in the face of need

Rawiri McKree Jansen, Gerhard Sundborn, Rick Cutfield, Dahai Yu, David Simmons

Evaluation of a longstanding primary care audit and diabetes care support service (DCSS) programme was reported in a paper published in Lancet Global Health on 15 October 2020.

EDITORIAL

Vol 133 No 1524: 30 October 2020

Oh my

Peter Crampton

NZDep is a small area index of relative socioeconomic deprivation based on census data. Ethnicity graphs for NZDep illustrate how socioeconomic advantage and disadvantage are distributed throughout our society.

EDITORIAL

Vol 133 No 1523: 9 October 2020

The Cannabis Referendum: why a yes vote offers a net gain for public health

Sam McBride, Papaarangi Reid, Louise Signal, Michael G Baker

The Cannabis Referendum provides an opportunity for New Zealand to take another step towards the wider goal of minimising the harms of drug use in this country. Here we summarise why evidence and public health considerations support a yes vote in the Referendum.

EDITORIAL

Vol 133 No 1523: 9 October 2020

Healing or harming: the prostate cancer dichotomy

Amir Zarrabi, Stephen Mark

For decades, the optimal management of men with prostate cancer has divided the international urological community. Prostate cancer remains the most expensive cancer in the New Zealand healthcare system, the most commonly diagnosed with around 4,000 new cases per year, and a common cause of death.

VIEWPOINT

Vol 134 No 1528: 15 January 2021

Increasing access to contraception in New Zealand: assessing the impact of a new funding initiative

Orna McGinn, Vicki Mount, Helen Fulcher

In November 2019, New Zealand’s long-awaited draft cross-sector Reproductive Health Action Plan was withdrawn.

VIEWPOINT

Vol 133 No 1572: 18 December 2020

Why does Pharmac neglect inflammatory bowel disease?

Andrew McCombie, Malcolm Arnold, Marian O’Connor, Richard Stein, James Fulforth, Belinda Brown, Richard Gearry

New Zealand has the third highest prevalence of IBD in the world, and the incidence is still increasing. A burden-of-disease report published in 2017 reported that IBD costs New Zealand an estimated $245,000,000 in healthcare costs and lost productivity.

VIEWPOINT

Vol 133 No 1572: 18 December 2020

Consensus statement on the treatment of transplant-eligible patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma in New Zealand

Nicole Chien, Ken Romeril, Bart Baker, Hugh Goodman, Henry Chan

In New Zealand, around 400 new cases of multiple myeloma (MM) are reported each year. This equates to an age standardised incidence rate of 5.19 cases per 100,000 population, which is similar to other western countries and is increasing with time.

VIEWPOINT

Vol 133 No 1572: 18 December 2020

Training clinicians to lead clinical IT projects

Robyn Whittaker, Rosie Dobson, Lara Hopley, Delwyn Armstrong, Barbara Corning-Davis, Penny Andrew

Digital health has evolved rapidly over the last two decades, creating enormous potential to transform the healthcare sector.

VIEWPOINT

Vol 133 No 1526: 4 December 2020

Increased unemployment from the COVID-19 pandemic, what might be the adverse impacts on cardiovascular disease in Aotearoa/New Zealand and how might this be prevented? | OPEN ACCESS

Until at least early August 2020, New Zealand had successfully eliminated community transmission of COVID-19 from the country, but then an outbreak was detected on 11 August (at the time of writing). Nevertheless, the associated response to the initial epidemic, including lockdowns and declines in global trade, has resulted in a range of negative social and economic impacts including job losses.

VIEWPOINT

Vol 133 No 1525: 20 November 2020

The legacy of MeNZB and possible implications for COVID-19 vaccination | OPEN ACCESS

James Stewart Reid

It is now over a decade since MeNZB was in routine use in New Zealand. Starting in July 2004, it was administered in a three-dose schedule to over a million individuals, aged six weeks to 20 years, to provide protection against the epidemic strain of group B Meningococci.

VIEWPOINT

Vol 133 No 1524: 30 October 2020

From gorse to ngahere: an emerging allegory for decolonising the New Zealand health system

Heather Came, Isaac Warbrick, Tim McCreanor, Maria Baker

The colonial health system in Aotearoa is failing Māori. This is evident through the findings of the landmark WAI 2575 report of the Waitangi Tribunal that found institutional racism and systemic breaches of Te Tiriti o Waitangi across the infrastructure of the health system, including in health legislation, policy, contracting, governance and investment practices of the Crown.

LETTER

Vol 134 No 1528: 15 January 2021

Frank Frizelle

When I found this book was returned from the initial reviewer without a review from the person who had “volunteered” to review it

BOOK REVIEW

Vol 131 No 1477: 22 June 2018

Black Flu 1918; The story of New Zealand s worst public health disaster

Frank Frizelle

This is the account of the 1918 influenza pandemic.

The principal scientific journal for the profession in New Zealand

Issue: Vol 134 No 1528: 15 January 2021

2021: here we come / tēnei te whakatau! | OPEN ACCESS

Remembering past pandemics to ensure we plan for the future: updated New Zealand survey of memorials to the 1918 influenza pandemic | OPEN ACCESS

Counting the cost of major infection and sepsis in New Zealand: an exploratory study using the National Minimum Data Set

Increasing access to contraception in New Zealand: assessing the impact of a new funding initiative

Counting the cost of major infection and sepsis in New Zealand: an exploratory study using the National Minimum Data Set

Interviews with health professionals about the National Child Protection Alert System

Clinician knowledge of driving restrictions following a stroke event

Prognostic significance of mid-range ejection fraction following acute coronary syndrome (ANZACS-QI 23)

Radiological imaging of melanoma: a review to guide clinical practice in New Zealand

A retrospective analysis of calls to the New Zealand National Poisons Centre regarding Pacific patients

Change in health profile of refugees resettling in New Zealand, 1980–2014

Improved foot management of people with diabetes by primary healthcare nurses in Auckland, New Zealand

Unplanned admissions to the Wellington Hospital intensive care unit before, during and after New Zealand’s COVID-19 lockdown | OPEN ACCESS

Drug-induced ocular inflammation

2021: here we come / tēnei te whakatau! | OPEN ACCESS

COVID-19 outbreaks in Aotearoa New Zealand: urgent action is required to address systematic causes and consequences of border failures | OPEN ACCESS

Adequacy of publicly funded colonoscopy services in New Zealand

Ethnic inequity in diabetes outcomes—inaction in the face of need

Oh my

The Cannabis Referendum: why a yes vote offers a net gain for public health

Healing or harming: the prostate cancer dichotomy

Increasing access to contraception in New Zealand: assessing the impact of a new funding initiative

Why does Pharmac neglect inflammatory bowel disease?

Consensus statement on the treatment of transplant-eligible patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma in New Zealand

Training clinicians to lead clinical IT projects

Increased unemployment from the COVID-19 pandemic, what might be the adverse impacts on cardiovascular disease in Aotearoa/New Zealand and how might this be prevented? | OPEN ACCESS

The legacy of MeNZB and possible implications for COVID-19 vaccination | OPEN ACCESS

From gorse to ngahere: an emerging allegory for decolonising the New Zealand health system

DNA information: access, use and implications for healthcare in Aotearoa New Zealand

Remembering past pandemics to ensure we plan for the future: updated New Zealand survey of memorials to the 1918 influenza pandemic | OPEN ACCESS

Updated algorithms are required to differentiate type 1 from type 2 diabetes using the Virtual Diabetes Register

The beginning of End of Life Choice

The impact of COVID-19 on RMO medical education and training at CDHB | OPEN ACCESS

The mental wellbeing of New Zealanders during and post-lockdown | OPEN ACCESS

Hospice/palliative care—entrenched attitudes against assisted dying

From Southland to Surgery: A Journey around Values

My Life in Public Health

Mind That Child; A Medical Memoir

Fat Off; the Right Way A clever and sustainable eating guide for weight loss and healthy living

The Art of Recovery: six personal journeys

The Older Traveller: A guide for the health professional

Black Flu 1918; The story of New Zealand s worst public health disaster

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