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Use of health services by remote dwelling Aboriginal infants in tropical northern Australia: a retrospective cohort study

Bar-Zeev, Sarah J., Kruske, Sue, Barclay, Lesley M., Bar-Zeev, Naor H., Carapetis, Jonathan R. and Kildea, Sue V. (2012). Use of health services by remote dwelling Aboriginal infants in tropical northern Australia: a retrospective cohort study. BMC Pediatrics,12(19):1-8.

Document type: Journal Article
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IRMA ID cmartelxPUB11
Title Use of health services by remote dwelling Aboriginal infants in tropical northern Australia: a retrospective cohort study
Author Bar-Zeev, Sarah J.
Kruske, Sue
Barclay, Lesley M.
Bar-Zeev, Naor H.
Carapetis, Jonathan R.
Kildea, Sue V.
Journal Name BMC Pediatrics
Publication Date 2012
Volume Number 12
Issue Number 19
ISSN 1471-2431   (check CDU catalogue open catalogue search in new window)
Scopus ID 2-s2.0-84857421543
Start Page 1
End Page 8
Total Pages 8
Place of Publication United Kingdom
Publisher BioMed Central Ltd.
HERDC Category C1 - Journal Article (DIISR)
Abstract Background
Australia is a wealthy developed country. However, there are significant disparities in health outcomes for Aboriginal infants compared with other Australian infants. Health outcomes tend to be worse for those living in remote areas. Little is known about the health service utilisation patterns of remote dwelling Aboriginal infants. This study describes health service utilisation patterns at the primary and referral level by remote dwelling Aboriginal infants from northern Australia.

Results
Data on 413 infants were analysed. Following birth, one third of infants were admitted to the regional hospital neonatal nursery, primarily for preterm birth. Once home, most (98%) health service utilisation occurred at the remote primary health centre, infants presented to the centre about once a fortnight (mean 28 presentations per year, 95%CI 26.4-30.0). Half of the presentations were for new problems, most commonly for respiratory, skin and gastrointestinal symptoms. Remaining presentations were for reviews or routine health service provision. By one year of age 59% of infants were admitted to hospital at least once, the rate of hospitalisation per infant year was 1.1 (95%CI 0.9-1.2).

Conclusions
The hospitalisation rate is high and admissions commence early in life, visits to the remote primary health centre are frequent. Half of all presentations are for new problems. These findings have important implications for health service planning and delivery to remote dwelling Aboriginal families.
DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2431-12-19   (check subscription with CDU E-Gateway service for CDU Staff and Students  check subscription with CDU E-Gateway in new window)
Additional Notes This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.


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