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Table 1 Characteristics of the Lililwan cohort

From: Pediatric hospital admissions in Indigenous children: a population-based study in remote Australia

Variable

Total (n = 127)

n (%)

Hospital Admissions (n = 89)

No Hospital Admissions (n = 38)

P-value (Chi2 Test)

Indigenous (child)

121 (95.3)

88 (98.9)

33 (86.8)

0.009*

Sex male

67 (52.8)

49 (55.1)

18 (47.4)

 

Place of residence at time of assessment (n = 127)

 Very Remote (ARIA+)d

127 (100.0)

   

  a) Town (population 1000–9999)

43 (33.9)

26 (29.2)

17 (44.7)

 

  b) Outer suburbs (within 30 km of remote town)

26 (20.5)

17 (19.1)

9 (23.7)

 

  c) Sub-regional hub (population 200–999)

31 (24.4)

22 (24.7)

9 (23.7)

 

  d) Satellite community (population < 200)

27 (21.3)

24 (27.0)

3 (7.9)

 

  a + b) Town or Outer suburbs

69 (54.3)

43 (33.9)

26 (68.4)

0.037*e

  c + d) Hub or satellite community (n = 127)

58 (45.7)

46 (51.7)

12 (31.6)

Food insecurity (Y/N) (n = 124)

52 (41.9)

43 (48.3)e

9 (24.3)#

0.01*

Financial concerns (n = 124)

47 (37.9)

37 (42.0)e

10 (27.0)#

 

Number living in overcrowded households n = 124

42 (33.1)

33 (37.0)

9 (23.7)

 

Number in household - median (range)#

4 (2–16)

4 (2–12)

4 (2–16)

 

Number of older siblings – median (range)#

2.0 (0–7)

2.0 (0–7)

2.0 (0–3)

 

Number of younger siblings – median (range)#

1.0 (0–3)

1.0 (0–3)

1.0 (0–3)

 

Mothers age at pregnancy (median, range)#

23 (14–43)

23 (15–36)

24 (14–43)

 

Gestation (n = 118)

    

   ≥ 37 weeks (term)#

103 (87.1)

75 (84.3)

28 (73.7)

 

   < 37 weeks (preterm)

15 (12.7)

11 (12.4)

4 (10.5)

 

   < 28 weeks (extremely preterm)

4 (3.4)

3 (3.5)

1 (2.6)

 

Alcohol exposed in utero (Y/N) (n = 122)

67 (52.8)

50 (56.2)#

17 (44.7)#

 

FASD diagnosis (n = 108)

21 (19.4)

19 (21.3)

2 (5.7)#

 

Microcephaly at assessment n=108a

16 (14.8)

12 (13.5)

4 (10.5)

 

Low Birth Weight (n = 105)¶

    

 Very low birth weight (< 1500 g)

3 (2.9)

   

 Low birth weight (< 2500 g)

18 (17.1)

   

  Birth weight ≤ 3rd percentileb

2 (1.9)

   

  Birth weight ≤ 10th percentileb

11 (10.5)

   

Growth deficiency at any age (Y/N) (n = 92)b

32 (34.8)

26 (41.3)

6 (20.6)

 

Any hearing loss (n = 98)c

54 (55.1)

40 (57.1)

14 (50)#

 

Exposure to cigarettes (nicotine) in utero (Y/N) n = 119

76 (65.5)

53 (63.1)#

23 (65.7)#

 

Marijuana exposure in utero (Y/N) n = 119

16 (13.4)

12 (14.3)#

4 (11.4)#

 

Both cigarettes and marijuana (Y/N) n = 119

16 (13.4)

12 (14.3)#

4 (11.4)#

 
  1. #indicates missing values as data due to unavailable data
  2. ¶ Data unavailable for hospitalised and non-hospitalised sub-groups
  3. *indicates significant difference p < 0.05
  4. aMicrocephaly: head circumference < 3rd percentile using WHO Child Growth Standards
  5. bGrowth deficiency at any age: height or weight < 10th centile recorded at any age from birth until time of assessment in Stage 2 (7 to 9 years of age)
  6. cHearing loss: Determined by an audiologist who conducted tympanometry, audiometry, video-otoscopy and Listening in Spatialized Noise - Sentences Test (LiSN-S) for Central Auditory Processing Disorder assessments
  7. dRemoteness was classified using the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGC) Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia (ARIA+), developed by the National Centre for the Social Applications of Geographic Information Systems (GISCA) and the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care (DH&AC) in order to classify remoteness of 12,000 populations in Australia based on physical road distance measurements to nearest service centres
  8. eNote significance here was calculated for a + b versus c + d
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BMC Pediatrics

ISSN: 1471-2431

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