David Lawrence is a Research Professor at The University of Western Australia, seconded to the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research. He has been working at the Institute since 2001, but has been involved with the Institute since 1991 when he worked on the Western Australian Child Health Survey.  David has expertise in the design and analysis of complex surveys and in the use of linked administrative data.  His research interests include the physical health of people with mental illness, smoking, diet, nutrition and obesity, and human capability expansion.

Published papers

Zubrick SR, Mitrou F, Lawrence D, Silburn SR (2011) Maternal death and the onward psychosocial circumstance of Australian Aboriginal children and young people.  Psychological Medicine. Jan 5: 1-10.

Brinkman SA, Johnson S, Lawrence D, Codde J, Hart B, Straton J, Silburn S (2010) Study protocol for the evaluation of an Infant Simulator based program delivered in schools: A pragmatic cluster randomised controlled trial. Trials. 11: 100.

Mitrou F, Gaudie J, Lawrence D, Silburn SR, Stanley FJ, Zubrick SR (2010) Antecedents of hospital admission for deliberate self-harm from a 14-year follow-up study using data linkage. BMC Psychiatry. 10: 82.

Lawrence D, Kisely S, Pais J (2010).  The epidemiology of excess mortality in people with mental illness.  Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. (Invited review) 55: 752-760

Lawrence D, Kisely S (2010). Inequalities in health care provision for people with severe mental illness.  Journal of Psychopharmacology. (Invited review) 24 (11 Suppl 4): 61-68.

Lawrence D, Mitrou F, Sawyer MR, Zubrick SR (2010).  Smoking status and emotional or behavioural problems in young people: Child and Adolescent component of the National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing.  Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry.  44: 805-814. 

Lawrence D, Considine J, Mitrou F, Zubrick SR (2010)  Anxiety disorders and cigarette smoking. Results from the Australian Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing.  Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry.  44: 521-528.

Gaudie J, Mitrou F, Lawrence D, Stanley FJ, Silburn SR, Zubrick SR (2010) Antecedents of teenage pregnancy from a 14-year follow-up study using data linkage.  BMC Public Health.  10: 63.

Lawrence D, Mitrou F (2010) Common mental disorders: a missed opportunity for smoking prevention and cessation. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry. 44: 96-7.

Zubrick SR, Taylor CL, Lawrence D, Mitrou F, Christensen D, Dalby R (2009)  The development of human capability across the lifecourse: Perspectives from childhood.  Australasian Epidemiologist. 16: 6-10.

Lawrence D, Mitrou F, Zubrick SR (2009)  Smoking and mental illness: results from population surveys in Australia and the United States. BMC Public Health. 9: 285.

Lawrence D, Mitrou F (2009)  One-third of adult smokers have a mental illness.  Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry. 43: 177-178.

Kisely S, Sadek J, MacKenzie A, Lawrence DM, Campbell LA (2008)  Excess cancer mortality in psychiatric patients.  Canadian Journal of Psychiatry.  53: 753-761.

Oddy WH, Kickett-Tucker C, De Maio JA, Lawrence DM, Cox A, Silburn SR, Stanley FJ, Zubrick SR (2008)  The association of infant feeding with parent-reported infections and hospitalisations in the Western Australian Aboriginal Child Health Survey.  Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health. 32: 207-215.

Jones-Fairnie H, Ferroni P, Silburn S, Lawrence D (2008)  Suicide in Australian Veterinarians.  Australian Veterinary Journal. 66: 114-116.

Cooke M, Mitrou FG, Lawrence DM, Guimond E, Beavon D (2007)  Aboriginal well-being in four countries: An application of the UNDP’s Human Development Index to Aboriginal peoples in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States.  BMC International Health and Human Rights. 7: 9.

Brinkman SA, Silburn SR, Lawrence DM, Goldfeld S, Sayers M, Oberklaid F (2007)  Investigating the validity of the Australian Early Development Index.  Early Education and Development.  18: 427-451.

Silburn SR, Blair E, Griffin JA, Zubrick SR, Lawrence DM, Mitrou FG, De Maio JA (2007)  Developmental and environmental factors supporting the health and well-being of Aboriginal adolescents.  International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health.  19: 345-354.

Kisely S, Smith M, Lawrence D, Cox M, Campbell LA, Maaten S (2007)  Inequitable access for mentally ill patients to some medically necessary procedures?  Canadian Medical Association Journal.  176: 779-784.

Silburn SR, Zubrick SR, Lawrence DM, Mitrou FG, De Maio JA, Blair E, Cox A, Dalby RB, Griffin JA, Pearson G, Hayward C (2006)  The intergenerational effects of forced separation on the social and emotional wellbeing of Aboriginal children and young people.  Family Matters.  75: 10-17. 

Kisely S, Smith M, Lawrence DM, Maaten S (2005) Mortality in individuals who have had psychiatric treatment. Population-based study in Nova Scotia. British Journal of Psychiatry. 187: 552-558. 

Zubrick SR, Ward KA, Silburn SR, Lawrence DM, Williams AA, Blair E, Robertson D, Sanders MR (2005)  Prevention of child behaviour problems through universal implementation of a group behavioural family intervention.  Prevention Science, 6: 287–304. 

Blair EM, Liu Y, de Klerk NH, Lawrence DM (2005) Optimal fetal growth for the Caucasian singleton and assessment of appropriateness of fetal growth: an analysis of a total population perinatal database.  BMC Pediatrics. 5: 13. 

Preen DB, Holman CDJ, Lawrence DM, Baynham N, Semmens JB (2004)  Hospital chart review provided more accurate comorbidity information than data from a general practitioner survey or an administrative database.  Journal of Clinical Epidemiology. 57: 1295-1304. 

Preen DB, Holman CDJ, Lawrence DM, Semmens JB, Spilsbury K (2004)  Modelling comorbidity recency, duration and severity with risk adjustment for mortality and morbidity outcomes with administrative data.  Australasian Epidemiologist.  11: 12-19.

Brameld K, Holman CDJ, Lawrence D, Hobbs MS (2003)  Improved methods for estimating incidence from linked hospital morbidity data.  International Journal of Epidemiology.  32: 617-624. 

Kisely S, Lawrence D, Preston N (2003)  The effect of recalling paracetamol: an epidemiologic study from Western Australia.  Medical Journal of Australia.  178: 72-74.

Lawrence D, Holman CDJ, Jablensky AV, Hobbs MST (2003)  The increasing death rate from ischaemic heart disease in Western Australian psychiatric patients 1980-1998.  British Journal of Psychiatry.  182: 31-36. 

Lawrence D, Coghlan R (2002)  Health inequalities and the health needs of people with mental illness.  NSW Public Health Bulletin.  13: 155-158.

Brameld KJ, Holman CDJ, Threlfall TJ, Lawrence D, De Klerk N (2002)  Increasing “active prevalence” of cancer in Western Australia and its implications for health services.  Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health. 26: 164-169. 

Almeida O, Hulse G, Lawrence D, Flicker L (2002)  Smoking as a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease: contrasting evidence from a systematic review of case-control and cohort studies.  Addiction.  97: 15-28. 

Lawrence D, Holman CDJ, Jablensky AV, Fuller SA, Stoney AJ (2001)  Increasing rates of suicide in Western Australian psychiatric patients: a record linkage study.  Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica.  104: 443-451.

Jablensky AV, Lawrence D (2001)  [Invited Commentary]  Schizophrenia and cancer:  Is there a need to invoke a protective gene?  Archives of General Psychiatry.  58: 579-580. 

Lawrence D, McKenzie R (2000)  The general application of significance editing.  Journal of Official Statistics.  16: 243-253. 

Lawrence D, Almeida OP, Hulse GK, Jablensky AV, Holman CDJ (2000)  Suicide and attempted suicide amongst older adults in Western Australia.  Psychological Medicine.  30: 813-821.

Lawrence D, Jablensky AV, Holman CDJ, Pinder TJ (2000)  Mortality in Western Australian psychiatric patients.  Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology.  35: 341-347.

Lawrence D, Holman CDJ, Jablensky AV, Threlfall TJ, Fuller SA (2000)  Excess cancer mortality in Western Australian psychiatric patients due to higher case fatality rates.  Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica.  101: 382-388. 

Book chapters

Cooke M, Mitrou F, Lawrence D, Guimond E, Beavon D (2010)  Indigenous well-being in four countries.  In Raphael D, editor. Health promotion and quality of life in Canada. Essential Readings (pp. 189-204).  Toronto: Canadian Scholars Press.

Silburn SR, Blair E, Griffin JA, Zubrick SR, Lawrence DM, Mitrou FG, De Maio JA, Dalby R (2009)  Health and well-being of Aboriginal adolescents. In Bennett D, Towns S, Elliott E, Merrick J, editors.  Challenges in Adolescent Health: An Australian Perspective (pp 73-89).  Jerusalem: Nova Publishers.

Zubrick SR, Silburn SR, Lawrence DM, Shepherd C, Mitrou FG, De Maio JA, Dalby RB, Griffin JA, Pearson G, Hayward C (2008)  Population capability and human development models: Policy changes to improve the lives of Australian Aboriginal children and families.  In Robinson G, Eickelkamp U, Goodnow J, Katz I, editors.  Contexts of child development: Culture, policy and intervention (pp 59-72).  Darwin:  Charles Darwin University Press.

Cooke M, Mitrou FG, Lawrence DM, Guimond E, Beavon D (2007)  Aboriginal well-being in four countries: An application of the UNDP’s Human Development Index to Aboriginal peoples in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States.  In White JP, Beavon D, Spence N, editors.  Aboriginal well-being: Canada’s continuing challenge (pp 87-105).  Toronto: Thompson Educational Publishing.

Brinkman S, Silburn SR, Lawrence DM, Oberklaid F, Goldfeld S, Sayers M, Coutts M, Hart B (2007)  Construct and concurrent validity of the Australian Early Development Index: A report to the Technical Advisory Group for the Australian Early Development Index: Building Better Communities for Children project.  Melbourne: Centre for Community Child Health, Royal Children’s Hospital.   http://www.rch.org.au/emplibrary/australianedi/AEDI_LSAC_Validation_Study_Report_Final.pdf

Mitrou F, Lawrence D, De Maio J, and the WAACHS team (2006). Education of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people. In: Australian Social Trends 2006. Australian Bureau of Statistics Catalogue 4102.0. Canberra: ABS. pp 97–103.  http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/4102.02006?OpenDocument

Soloff C, Lawrence DM, Misson S, Johnstone R (2006) The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. Wave 1 weighting and non-response. LSAC Technical Paper No. 3. Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies.  http://www.aifs.gov.au/growingup/pubs/technical/index.html

Zubrick SR, Silburn SR, De Maio JA, Shepherd C, Griffin JA, Dalby RB, Mitrou FG, Lawrence DM, Hayward C, Pearson G, Milroy H, Milroy J, Cox A (2006) The Western Australian Aboriginal Child Health Survey: Improving the educational experiences of Aboriginal children and young people. Perth: Curtin University of Technology and Telethon Institute for Child Health Research.   http://www.ichr.uwa.edu.au/waachs/publications/volume_three

Zubrick SR, Lawrence DM, De Maio JA, Biddle N (2006) Testing the reliability of a measure of Aboriginal children’s mental health. An analysis based on the Western Australian Aboriginal Child Health Survey. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics (Catalogue No. 1351.0.55.011).  http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/ProductsbyCatalogue/A2C67B4298D64152CA25712400156BC1?OpenDocument

Soloff C, Lawrence DM, Johnstone R (2005) The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. Sample Design. LSAC Technical Paper No. 1. Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies.  http://www.aifs.gov.au/growingup/pubs/technical/index.html

Zubrick SR, Silburn SR, Lawrence DM, Mitrou FG, Dalby RB, Blair EM, Griffin J, Milroy H, De Maio JA, Cox A, Li J (2005) The Western Australian Aboriginal Child Health Survey: The Social and Emotional Wellbeing of Aboriginal Children and Young People. Perth: Curtin University of Technology and Telethon Institute for Child Health Research.  http://www.ichr.uwa.edu.au/waachs/publications/volume_two

De Maio JA, Zubrick SR, Silburn SR, Lawrence DM, Mitrou FG, Dalby RB, Blair EM, Griffin J, Milroy H, Cox A (2005) The Western Australian Aboriginal Child Health Survey: Measuring the Social and Emotional Wellbeing of Aboriginal Children and Intergenerational Effects of Forced Separation. Perth: Curtin University of Technology and Telethon Institute for Child Health Research.   http://www.ichr.uwa.edu.au/files/user17/Volume2_TechPaper.pdf

Zubrick SR, Silburn SR, Lawrence DM, Mitrou FG, Dalby RB, Blair EM, Griffin J, Milroy H, De Maio JA, Cox A, Li J. The Western Australian Aboriginal Child Health Survey: Forced separation from natural family, forced relocation from traditional country or homeland, and social and emotional wellbeing of Aboriginal children and young people: Additional notes: Perth: Curtin University of Technology and Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, 2005.  http://www.ichr.uwa.edu.au/files/user17/Chapter_7_Additional_Notes.pdf

Zubrick SR, Lawrence DM, Silburn SR, Blair E, Milroy H, Wilkes T, Eades S, D’Antoine H, Read A, Ishiguchi P, Doyle S (2004)  The Western Australian Aboriginal Child Health Survey: The Health of Aboriginal Children and Young People.  Perth.  Telethon Institute for Child Health Research.  http://www.ichr.uwa.edu.au/waachs/publications/volume_one

Lawrence D, Holman CDJ, Jablensky AV (2001)  Duty to Care: Preventable physical illness in people with mental illness.  University of Western Australia.   http://www.sph.uwa.edu.au/research/chsr/projects/dtc-report

Coghlan R, Lawrence D, Holman CDJ, Jablensky AV (2001)  Duty to Care: Preventable physical illness in people with mental illness: Stakeholder summary.  University of Western Australia.  http://www.sph.uwa.edu.au/research/chsr/projects/dtc-report

Coghlan R, Lawrence D, Holman CDJ, Jablensky AV (2001)  Duty to Care: Preventable physical illness in people with mental illness: Consumer summary.  University of Western Australia.  http://www.sph.uwa.edu.au/research/chsr/projects/dtc-report