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Abstract: Objective: To describe the use of non‐invasive ventilation (NIV) in adults presenting with status asthmaticus to Middlemore Hospital Critical Care Complex (CCC, South Auckland, New Zealand) from 2000 to 2015. Method: Retrospective review of all adult asthma admissions to the Hospital CCC between 2000 and 2015. Demographic, physiological, treatment data and blood gas results were recorded. Results: There were 265 asthma admissions to Middlemore Hospital CCC during the study period. The median age was 34 years; 64% were female. NIV was used in 186 admissions, of which eight went on to require intubation and invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV). Twenty‐three other admissions received IMV without a trial of NIV and a further 58 were managed with medical care only. The average pH for all admissions was 7.23 and the IMV group had an average pH of 6.99. Forty‐five admissions presented with a Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score of ≤10. Twenty‐five of these were managed with NIV with only one requiring subsequent intubation. The mean duration of NIV in this group was 5 h (range 1–17 h) with a mean ICU and hospital length of stay of 17 h and 3.5 days, respectively. All patients in this group effectively lowered the pCO2 over a 2 h period with NIV having an average drop of 5.9 kPa and IMV 3.4 kPa. Conclusion: The use of NIV appears to be safe and effective in patients with severe asthma, including selected patients with an altered level of consciousness. NIV was well tolerated with a low need for subsequent intubation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study was undertaken to determine cancer survival and describe the unique spectrum of cancers diagnosed among New Zealand's adolescents and young adult (AYA) population. Methods: Registrations for 1606 15-24 year olds diagnosed with a new primary malignant tumor between 2000 and 2009 were obtained from the New Zealand Cancer Registry and classified according to AYA diagnostic group and subgroup, age, sex, and prioritized ethnicity. Age-standardized incidence rates (IRs) per million person years and 5-year relative survival ratios were calculated. Results: Cancer incidence was 228.6 per million for adolescents aged 15-19 years and 325.7 per million for young adults aged 20-24 years. Overall IRs were consistent across all ethnic groups but there were unique ethnic differences by tumor group including a higher incidence of bone tumors, carcinoma of the gastrointestinal tract, and gonadal germ cell tumors among Maori, a higher incidence of leukemia among Pacific peoples, and a higher incidence of melanoma among non-Maori/non-Pacific peoples. Five-year relative survival for adolescents (75.1%) and AYA overall (80.6%) appeared poorer than had been achieved in other high-income countries. Maori (69.5%) and Pacific (71.3%) AYA had lower 5-year survival compared to non-Maori/non-Pacific peoples (84.2%). Conclusion: The survival disparities observed require further investigation to identify and address the causes of these inferior outcomes. The newly established AYA Cancer Network Aotearoa has been tasked with improving cancer survival and care and ensuring equality of access for New Zealand AYAs with cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To evaluate the completeness and accuracy of child cancer registration in New Zealand., Methods: Registrations for children aged 0-14 diagnosed between 1/1/2010 and 31/12/2014 were obtained from the New Zealand Cancer Registry (NZCR) and the New Zealand Children's Cancer Registry (NZCCR). Six key data fields were matched using National Health Index numbers in order to identify and resolve registration discrepancies. Capture-recapture methods were used to assess the completeness of cancer registration., Results: 794 unique cases were reported; 718 from the NZCR, 721 from the NZCCR and 643 from both registries. 27 invalid cancer registrations were identified, including 19 residents of the Pacific Islands who had travelled to New Zealand for treatment. The NZCCR provided 55 non-malignant central nervous system tumour and 16 Langerhans cell histiocytosis cases which were not registered by the NZCR. The NZCR alerted the NZCCR to 18 cases missed due to human error and 23 cases that had not been referred to the specialist paediatric oncology centres. 762 cases were verified as true incident cases, an incidence rate of 166.8 per million. Registration accuracy for six key data fields was 98.6%. According to their respective inclusion criteria case completeness was 99.3% for the NZCR and 94.4% for the NZCCR. For childhood malignancies covered by both registries, capture-recapture methods estimated case ascertainment at greater than 99.9%., Conclusion: With two national registries covering childhood cancers, New Zealand is uniquely positioned to undertake regular cooperative activities to ensure high quality data is available for research and patient care., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)