What birthweight percentile is associated with optimal perinatal mortality and childhood education outcomes?

Background: Small for gestational age, defined as birthweight <10th percentile for gestational age, is known to be associated with clinically meaningful impairments in health and development. The effects of variation within the normal range of birthweight percentile on perinatal mortality and childhood education remain less well defined.

Objective: We sought to quantify the association among birthweight percentile, perinatal mortality, and educational outcomes and to determine the optimal birthweight percentile for those outcomes in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australian children.

Progress in closing the gap in life expectancy at birth for Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory, 1967-2012.

Objectives: To compare long term changes in mortality and life expectancy at birth (LE) of Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory and of the overall Australian population; to determine the contributions of changes in mortality in specific age groups to changes in LE for each population.

Design, Setting, Participants: Retrospective trend analysis of death and LE data for the NT Aboriginal and Australian populations, 1967-2012.

Main Outcome Measures: LE estimates based on abridged life tables; mortality estimates (deaths per 100 000 population); and age decomposition of LE changes by sex and time period.

Frequent use of hospital inpatient services during a nine year period: a retrospective cohort study.

Background: Frequent use (FU) of hospital services impacts on patients and health service expenditure. Studies examining FU in emergency departments and inpatient settings have found heterogeneity and the need to differentiate between potentially preventable FU and that associated with ongoing management of complex conditions. Psychosocial factors have often been reported as underpinning or exacerbating the phenomena.

Stroke incidence and case-fatality among Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations in the Northern Territory of Australia, 1999-2011.

Background: Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability in Australia. The impact of stroke on the Australia Indigenous people is, however, unclear.

Aim: This study describes hospital-based stroke incidence and case fatality in the Northern Territory population in Australia.

Better health outcomes at lower costs: the benefits of primary care utilisation for chronic disease management in remote Indigenous communities in Australia's Northern Territory.

Background: Indigenous residents living in remote communities in Australia's Northern Territory experience higher rates of preventable chronic disease and have poorer access to appropriate health services compared to other Australians. This study compared health outcomes and costs at different levels of primary care utilisation to determine if primary care represents an efficient use of resources for Indigenous patients with common chronic diseases namely hypertension, diabetes, ischaemic heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and renal disease.

Methods: This was an historical cohort study involving a total of 14,184 Indigenous residents, aged 15 years and over, who lived in remote communities and used a remote clinic or public hospital from 2002 to 2011.

Trends in hospital admissions for conditions associated with child maltreatment, Northern Territory, 1999-2010.

Objective: To use hospital admissions data to investigate trends in maltreatment among Northern Territory Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children.

Design, Setting And Participants: A historical cohort study using diagnosis and external cause codes from hospital admissions among children aged 0-17 years.

Main Outcome Measures: Annual rates of admission with either a definitive or indicative code for child maltreatment.

The cost-effectiveness of primary care for Indigenous Australians with diabetes living in remote Northern Territory communities.

Objective: To evaluate the costs and health outcomes associated with primary care use by Indigenous people with diabetes in remote communities in the Northern Territory.

Design, Setting And Participants: A population-based retrospective cohort study from 1 January 2002 to 31 December 2011 among Indigenous NT residents ≥ 15 years of age with diabetes who attended one of five hospitals or 54 remote clinics in the NT.

Main Outcome Measures: Hospitalisations, potentially avoidable hospitalisations (PAH), mortality and years of life lost (YLL).

Dementia prevalence and incidence among the Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations of the Northern Territory.

Objective: To estimate the prevalence and incidence of dementia in Northern Territory Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations.

Design, Setting And Participants: Four data sources were used to identify clients with a diagnosis of dementia, from 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2011. The data sources included hospital admissions, aged care services, primary care and death registration.

Health inequity in the Northern Territory, Australia.

Introduction: Understanding health inequity is necessary for addressing the disparities in health outcomes in many populations, including the health gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. This report investigates the links between Indigenous health outcomes and socioeconomic disadvantage in the Northern Territory of Australia (NT).

Methods: Data sources include deaths, public hospital admissions between 2005 and 2007, and Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas from the 2006 Census.

Trends in reports of child maltreatment in the Northern Territory, 1999-2010.

Objective: To examine trends in reports of child maltreatment to the Northern Territory Department of Children and Families among Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children.

Design, Setting And Subjects: A historical cohort study using administrative data collections of notifications and substantiated cases of maltreatment among children aged from 0 to 17 years.

Main Outcome Measures: Annual rates of notification and substantiation of different types of child maltreatment.

Trends in alcohol-attributable hospitalisation in the Northern Territory, 1998-99 to 2008-09.

Objective: To examine trends in hospitalisation for alcohol-attributable conditions in the Northern Territory Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal populations between the financial years 1998-99 and 2008-09.

Design And Setting: Retrospective descriptive analysis of inpatient discharge data from NT public hospitals.

Main Outcome Measures: Alcohol-attributable hospitalisation by age, sex, Aboriginality, region of residence and medical conditions, with annual time trends.

Trend analysis of hospital admissions attributable to tobacco smoking, Northern Territory Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal populations, 1998 to 2009.

Background: Tobacco smoking is a well-recognised risk factor for many diseases [1]. This study assesses the extent of smoking-attributable hospitalisation in the Northern Territory (NT) Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal populations, and examines smoking-attributable hospitalisation trends for the years 1998/99 to 2008/09.

Methods: Hospital discharge data were used for the analysis.

A multilevel analysis on the relationship between neighbourhood poverty and public hospital utilization: is the high Indigenous morbidity avoidable?

Background: The estimated life expectancy at birth for Indigenous Australians is 10-11 years less than the general Australian population. The mean family income for Indigenous people is also significantly lower than for non-Indigenous people. In this paper we examine poverty or socioeconomic disadvantage as an explanation for the Indigenous health gap in hospital morbidity in Australia.

Long-term trends in Indigenous deaths from chronic diseases in the Northern Territory: a foot on the brake, a foot on the accelerator.

Objective: To examine trends in Northern Territory Indigenous mortality from chronic diseases other than cancer.

Design: A comparison of trends in rates of mortality from six chronic diseases (ischaemic heart disease [IHD], chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [COPD], cerebrovascular disease [CVD], diabetes mellitus [DM], renal failure [RF] and rheumatic heart disease [RHD]) in the NT Indigenous population with those of the total Australian population.

Participants: NT Indigenous and total Australian populations, 1977-2001.