Objective: To describe trends in the annual prevalence of hospitalisation in remote Indigenous communities in Queensland, 1997/98 to 2004/05. Methods: Descriptive analysis of computerised discharge abstracts that were linked using probabilistic matching to obtain person-based data. Results: Over the eight years studied, the age-standardised annual prevalence of hospitalisation decreased by 4.5% per year (95% CI -4.8% - -4.1%). The decrease was largest at younger ages (e.g. 0-4 years: -6.0%; 70+ years: -1.9%). There were large decreases for infections (-6.1 %; 95% CI -6.8% - -5.4%) and for injury (-7.3%; 95% CI -8.1% - -6.5%). However, there were increases for chronic diseases such as ischaemic heart disease (2.5%; 95% CI 0.2%-4.9%), diabetes (2.5%; 95% CI 0.5%-4.5%) and renal failure (6.8%, 95% CI 3.3%-10.4%). Conclusions: Indigenous health appears to be improving in the remote communities in Queensland, especially for infections and injury, but it appears that little progress has been made for chronic disease.
CITATION STYLE
Coory, M., & Johnston, T. (2006). Trends in the annual prevalence of hospitalisation for remote indigenous communities in Queensland, 1997/98 to 2004/5. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 30(5), 440–443. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-842X.2006.tb00460.x
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