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Research

In partnership with Derbarl Yerrigan Health Service and the Broome Regional Aboriginal Medical Service, we aim to improve Aboriginal lung health by determining for the first time the baseline lung function of Aboriginal Australians.

Partnership expands Aboriginal kids’ lung health program across Western Australia

A program aimed at raising awareness of the dangers of a chronic wet cough in Aboriginal children has been extended to 14 remote and regional towns in Western Australia - thanks to a partnership between The Kids Research Institute Australia and Cystic Fibrosis WA.

Research

“You’re telling us to go first?!” COVID-19 pandemic and vaccination experiences among Aboriginal adults in Western Australia

Globally, Indigenous populations have been disproportionately impacted by pandemics. In Australia, though national infection rates with COVID-19 infections in Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people were lower in the first 12 months of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was soon a greater burden in Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Island people once Omicron was circulating. Uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine was also lower among Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people.

Research

Premedication with salbutamol prior to surgery does not decrease the risk of perioperative respiratory adverse events in school-aged children

Premedication with salbutamol to children prior to their surgery did not reduce their risk of Perioperative respiratory adverse events

Research

An Official ATS/ERS Workshop Report: Evaluation of Respiratory Mechanics and Function in the Pediatric and Neonatal Intensive Care Units

This report summarizes techniques available for ventilated and spontaneously breathing infants and children in the ICU

Research

Association between early respiratory viral infections and structural lung disease in infants with cystic fibrosis

Infants with cystic fibrosis (CF) develop structural lung disease early in life, and viral infections are associated with progressive lung disease. We hypothesized that the presence of respiratory viruses would be associated with structural lung disease on computed tomography (CT) of the chest in infants with CF.

Tapping into the healing nature of water

In Aboriginal culture, water is life, holding powerful spiritual and cultural significance and acting as a vital source of connection, food and medicine.

News & Events

Wal-yan Centre welcomes Professor André Schultz as new Head

In an exciting development for the Wal-yan Respiratory Research Centre, Professor André Schultz has been appointed as the Centre’s new Head, succeeding Professor Stephen Stick.

Fighting lung disease

Culturally secure intervention to facilitate medical follow up for Aboriginal children, after being hospitalised with chest infections, have proven to improve long-term lung health outcomes.

Research

The influence of sighing respirations on infant lung function measured using multiple breath washout gas mixing techniques

There is substantial interest in studying lung function in infants, to better understand the early life origins of chronic lung diseases such as asthma.