The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne

CEBU Research

The Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics Unit (CEBU) is involved in a range of both applied and methodological research in the area of children's health in collaboration with researchers and clinicians at RCH and at other institutions both nationally and internationally.  Large scale projects are listed below along with lead investigators, but we are also involved in many smaller-scale clinical research projects not listed here.

Publications

Applied Research

• Mental health, social development and substance abuse in adolescents and young adults.  (John Carlin with George Patton and colleagues, MCRI Health Development Theme).
• Early life determinants of health and disease, including twin studies. (John Carlin with Ruth Morley, MCRI Early Development & Disease Theme)
• Growing Up in Australia (Longitudinal Study of Australian Children) with current focus on overweight and obesity in pre-school children; and child's sleep behaviour on parents' mental health. (John Carlin and Pollyanna Hardy with Melissa Wake and Harriet Hiscock,  MCRI Healthy Development Theme)
• A multi-centre, randomised, controlled trial of Broncho-Alveolar Lavage (BAL) directed therapy in young children with cystic fibrosis. (John Carlin and Suzanna Vidmar with Claire Wainwright, Royal Children's Hospital, Brisbane and national collaborators.)  
• Estimating the hospital burden of gastroenteritis and rotavirus infection in Australia, and providing an updated cost-effectiveness analysis of rotavirus vaccination in Australia based on a vaccine presently being developed by Merck Inc. Funded by CSL Ltd. (John Carlin and John Galati).
• Estimating probabilities of compatible heart donors becoming available within specified times for recipients of given blood type and weight. (John Galati with James Tibballs, RCH Intensive Care Unit).
• International Young Infants Study: validation of simple algorithms for detection of life-threatening disease in sick young infants.  (John Carlin with World Health Organisation and other international partners).
• Reducing the body mass index of overweight and obese children.  (Live Eat and Play - LEAP II, - http://www.rch.org.au/emplibrary/ccch/LEAP.pdf).  (Obioha Ukoumunne with Zoë McCallum, MCRI Healthy Development Theme).
• Outcomes associated with bilateral slight/mild sensorineural hearing loss in elementary school children.  (Hearing in Schools Study - HISS)  (Obioha Ukoumunne with Melissa Wake, MCRI Healthy Development Theme).
• Interventions for reducing infant sleep problems.  (Infant Sleep Study - ISS)  (Obioha Ukoumunne with Harriet Hiscock and Jordana Bayer, MCRI Healthy Development Theme).
• Interventions for reducing the incidence of preschool externalising behaviour problems.  (Toddlers Without Tears - TWT)  (Obioha Ukoumunne with Harriet Hiscock and Jordana Bayer, MCRI Healthy Development Theme).
   

Methodological Research

• Statistical methods for handling missing data in large epidemiological studies, using multiple imputation.  Funded by NHMRC.  (John Carlin and John Galati with international collaborations including the Department of Social Medicine and Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, University of Bristol (UK) and Joe Schafer, Pennsylvania State University (USA)).
• Simulation study comparing methods for analysing dichotomous outcomes from cluster randomised trials. (Obioha Ukoumunne).