Dr Monique Kilkenny's paper recognised as one of the most read in Medical Journal of Australia

Dr Monique Kilkenny

Congratulations to Dr Monique Kilkenny, whose ground breaking, multi-jurisdictional data linkage research which was published in the Medical Journal of Australia, has been recognised as one of the top downloaded publications in 2018-2019.

SCS researchers’ part of a team awarded $5 million to stop stroke in its tracks

Professor Amanda Thrift

Congratulations to SCS researchers from the Stroke and Ageing Group who have been successful in securing a five million dollar NHMRC Synergy Grant in collaboration with researchers at UTas, UWA and UniSA. Professors Amanda Thrift and Dominique Cadilhac, and Drs Monique Kilkenny and Joosup Kim received the grant for their project 'Synergies to Prevent Stroke – STOPstroke'.

Professor Cadilhac and Professor Kilkenny forge new international collaboration

Professor Cadilhac and
Professor Wang

Professor Dominique Cadilhac and Professor Monique Kilkenny visited the Zhuhai campus of Zunyi Medical University in China last month. The visit was part of their 'Visiting Professor' program to explore opportunities to collaborate on research and teaching, and to discuss future student exchanges between Australia and China.

One-third of stroke patients ditch meds within a year

A study led by Dr Monique Kilkenny from the Stroke and Ageing Research Group has been published in Australian Doctor.

SCS staff receive Dean's Awards for Excellence

The School of Clinical Sciences is celebrating the outstanding achievements of Dr Monique Kilkenny of the Department of Medicine and the Monash Nutrition Indigenous Curriculum Working Group for their recognition in the 2019 Dean’s Awards for Excellence held earlier this month.

Maximising data value and avoiding data waste: a validation study in stroke research

Dr Monique Kilkenny

Recent advances in digital infrastructure has allowed linkage of administrative and clinical datasets. Dr Monique Kilkenny recently led the linkage of the Australian Stroke Clinical Registry with hospital administrative datasets. Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability in Australia and with this linked dataset, researchers will be able to reliably investigate the characteristics of patients who are rehospitalised and if these hospitalisations are potentially preventable.

Publications week ending 7 September 2018

Elective replacement of intravenous cannula in neonates-a randomised trial. Atul Malhotra et al. published in the European Journal of Pediatrics.

Planned private homebirth in Victoria 2000–2015: a retrospective cohort study of Victorian perinatal data. Miranda Davies-Tuck et al. published in BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth.

The NACSTOP trial: A multi‐center, cluster‐controlled trial of early cessation of acetylcysteine in acetaminophen overdose. Anselm Wong et al. published in Hepatology.

Data quality: "Garbage in - garbage out"

Monique Kilkenny et al. published in the Health Information Management Journal.

Quality of Life Is Poorer for Patients With Stroke Who Require an Interpreter: An Observational Australian Registry Study

Monique Kilkenny et al. published in Stroke.

Read article here.

Quality of Life Is Poorer for Patients With Stroke Who Require an Interpreter

Monique Kilkenny et al. published in Stroke.

Read article here.

Prescription of antihypertensive medication at discharge influences survival following stroke

Joosup Kim et al. published in Neurology.

Read article here.

Monash researchers making their mark in stroke

Professor Dominique Cadilhac

Monash University researchers are paving the way in stroke innovation after being awarded
$100,000 in Stroke Foundation seed grants.

Dr Monique Kilkenny and Professor Dominique Cadilhac, from the Stroke and Ageing group within the School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health, will benefit from the 2018 grants round as they strive to improve diagnosis, treatment and long-term prevention care for survivors of stroke.



Dr Kilkenny’s research will look at the long term use of medications prescribed to stroke survivors to reduce their chance of subsequent stroke.

Dr Monique Kilkenny

In a first for Australia, she will use data from the Australian Stroke Clinical Registry linked to national pharmacy data to describe patterns of medication use that is subsidised by the Australian Government.

“During the first 10 years after a stroke there is a 43 percent risk of a person experiencing another stroke, and generally these are more severe. Several types of medications have been shown to
prevent strokes within this high risk population,” Dr Kilkenny said.

“It is essential these medications are taken as prescribed on an ongoing basis. This grant will allow us to understand whether patients continue to take prescribed medications, such as those for
lowering blood pressure and cholesterol, after they leave hospital and in the long-term and what impact these actions have on health.”

While Professor Cadilhac’s project will look at how our ambulances and hospitals respond to suspected stroke events and how diagnosis and access to time-critical treatment can be improved. The
research will utilise data that will for the first time be linked from the Australian Stroke Clinical
Registry and Ambulance Victoria.

“Diagnosis of acute stroke is complex” Professor Cadilhac said.

“In Australia, not all patients with stroke are admitted to hospitals within the required time frames
for time-critical treatments.”

“Through this work we will learn more about the pre-hospital factors which influence the
identification of a stroke and the impact of this on the patient’s timely arrival at hospital. The
outcome may have important implications for practice or policy,” she said.

Stroke Foundation Chief Executive Officer Sharon McGowan said these projects had the potential
to make a real difference for patients with stroke, from detection to long term care.

“Tragically, it’s estimated there will be more than 56,000 strokes across the country in 2018 – that’s
one every nine minutes,” Ms McGowan said.

“Too many Australians are dying or being left with an ongoing disability as a result of stroke, but it
does not need to be this way.

“High quality evidence-based research like this is so important in our mission to prevent, treat and
beat this terrible disease and reduce the spiraling costs to the community and health system
associated with stroke.

Researchers like Dr Monique Kilkenny and Professor Dominique Cadilhac give us hope for the
future,” she said.

Carotid endarterectomy: the change in practice over 11 years in a stroke centre

Monique Kilkenny et al. published in ANZ Journal of Surgery.

Read article here.

The Quality of Discharge Care Planning in Acute Stroke Care: Influencing Factors and Association with Postdischarge Outcomes

Nadine Andrew et al. published in the Journal of Stroke and Cerebrovascular Diseases.

Read article here.

Improving quality and outcomes of stroke care in hospitals: Protocol and statistical analysis plan for the Stroke123 implementation study

Dominique Cadilhac et al. published in the International Journal of Stroke.

Read article here.

Risk-adjusted hospital mortality rates for stroke: evidence from the Australian Stroke Clinical Registry (AuSCR).

Dominique Cadilhac et al. published in the Medical Journal of Australia.

Read article here.

The benefits of clinical facilitators on improving stroke care in acute hospitals: a new program for Australia

Tara Purvis et al. published in the Internal Medicine Journal.

Read article here.

Improving care for patients with stroke impacts health outcomes and the economy

Associate Professor Cadilhac

Monash University researchers from Stroke and Ageing Research, School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health, have shown that if acute stroke care was improved to that of Australian benchmarks, more than 9300 disability-adjusted life years could be avoided every year, at minimal cost to the health system.

Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability in Australia, and the associated economic burden is significant.

 “The average lifetime costs of first-ever stroke in Australia is approximately $100,000, comprising health costs and loss of productivity,” said senior researcher Associate Professor Dominique Cadilhac.

“While acute stroke treatment guidelines include stroke unit care, intravenous thrombolysis for patients with ischemic stroke and medication for secondary prevention, evidence suggests that eligible patients may not always receive these therapies—even in well-resourced settings.”

The research team estimated the health and economic benefits from improving standards of care, and converted their results to disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) avoided.  A DALY is a year of life lost due to illness, disability, or early death.

“Using 2013 patient data, we estimated that if hospitals had achieved the benchmark acute stroke care standards, 285 recurrent strokes and 977 deaths or disabilities would have been prevented,” said Dr Joosup Kim who did the modelling analysis.

“This translates to 9329 DALYs avoided; and these health benefits could be delivered at an additional cost of $30.8 million or approximately $3304 per DALY avoided.”

Dr Kim explained that considerable gains in health may be achieved at relatively low costs by improving the average standard of acute stroke care in Australia to the standard of top performing hospitals.

“The estimate of $3304 per DALY avoided is considered to be highly cost effective since the willingness to pay for an additional year of healthy life is generally accepted as less than the national annual gross domestic project per capita (approximately $50,000 in Australia).”

The evidence-based therapies included in the research team’s analysis are already recommended in guidelines, further emphasising the potential benefits of implementing current knowledge.

“These are benefits that could be achieved with investment in clinician behaviour change, health service redesign, and support structures within the clinical setting to attain achievable benchmarks,” said Associate Professor Cadilhac.

Hospitals admitting at least 100 patients with stroke a year should have a stroke unit: a case study from Australia

Dominique Cadilhac et al. published in BMC Health Services Research.

Read article here.

Knowledge of risk factors for diabetes or cardiovascular disease (CVD) is poor among individuals with risk factors for CVD

Monique Kilkenny et al. published in PlosOne.

Read article here.