Total Population Investigation of Dental Hospitalizations in Indigenous Children Under Five Years in Western Australia Using Linked Data

Document Type

Journal Article

Publisher

Wiley

Faculty

Faculty of Education and Arts

School

Kurongkurl Katitjin

RAS ID

12675

Comments

Slack-Smith, L., Read, A., Colvin, L., Leonard, H., Kilpatrick, N., Mcaullay, D. , & Messer, L. (2011). Total population investigation of dental hospitalizations in Indigenous children under five years in Western Australia using linked data. Australian Dental Journal, 56(4), 358-364. Available here

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to compare dental hospital admissions in a total state birth population of Indigenous and non-Indigenous children aged under five years in Western Australia. Methods: Midwives' notification data were linked to databases of deaths, admissions, birth defects and intellectual disability. Births during 1980-1995 were followed until five years of age (n = 383 665). Dental admissions were classified by ICD-9 principal diagnosis categories. Results: There were 738 dental admissions for 665 children aged up to five years of Indigenous mothers (n = 20 921). Indigenous children comprised 6.3% of all children having a dental admission in this age group; 3.2% of children with Indigenous mothers had a dental admission compared with 2.7% of non-Indigenous children. Overall, 8.7% (n = 58) of Indigenous children with a dental admission had a birth defect and 5.5% (n = 23) had an intellectual disability (compared to 8.8% and 3.2%). Indigenous children were four times more likely to be diagnosed with oral soft tissue diseases than non-Indigenous children, and less likely to be categorized as having diseases of the dental hard tissues. Indigenous children were more likely to have a longer dental admission. Conclusions: These analyses provide important findings regarding hospital admissions for Indigenous children. Admissions for disorders of the soft tissues are more common in Indigenous children.

DOI

10.1111/j.1834-7819.2011.01366.x

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Link to publisher version (DOI)

10.1111/j.1834-7819.2011.01366.x