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Indigenous and non‐Indigenous Australian children hospitalised for burn injuries: a population data linkage study
Author(s) -
Möller Holger,
Harvey Lara,
Falster Kathleen,
Ivers Rebecca,
Clapham Kathleen F,
Jorm Louisa
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/mja16.00213
Subject(s) - indigenous , medicine , referral , total body surface area , population , demography , cohort , poison control , injury prevention , emergency medicine , surgery , environmental health , family medicine , ecology , sociology , biology
Objective: To investigate differences in the characteristics of burn injuries leading to hospitalisation of Indigenous Australian and non‐Indigenous children in New South Wales. Design, setting: Population‐based cohort analysis of linked hospital and mortality data for 2000–2014. Participants: 35 749 Indigenous and 1 088 938 non‐Indigenous children aged 0–13 years. Main outcome measures: The external cause of the injury, its anatomic location, total body surface area affected (%TBSA), burn depth, length of hospital stay (LOS). Results: 4246 non‐Indigenous and 323 Indigenous children were hospitalised for a first burn injury during 2000–2014. A higher proportion of Indigenous than non‐Indigenous children were admitted with burns affecting more than 10% TBSA (17% v 12%) and a lower proportion of Indigenous children than of non‐Indigenous children were treated at a hospital with a paediatric tertiary referral burn unit (40% v 50%; P < 0.001). The mean LOS during the index admission was almost 3 days longer for Indigenous children than for non‐Indigenous children (6.1 days [95% CI, 4.8–7.4 days] v 3.4 days [95% CI, 3.2–3.7 days]; P < 0.001); the difference in LOS was still statistically significant after adjusting for characteristics of the burn and residential location. Conclusion: The proportion of Indigenous children with burns who presented with burn injuries affecting more than 10% TBSA was greater than for non‐Indigenous children. Their mean LOS was also longer; the difference remained statistically significant after adjusting for characteristics of the burn and of residential location.

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