Associations between discrimination and dental visiting behaviours in an Aboriginal Australian birth cohort

Abstract

contained a higher proportion of older adults, females, and regional and remote adults, and the NSW-NATSIHS sample contained a higher proportion of females, and regional and remote adults. Finding that the majority of the risk behaviours and all the health status prevalence estimates were not significantly different was encouraging. The higher rate of alcohol non-drinking and lower rate of current smoking in the NSWPHS was likely due to the underrepresentation of young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men in the NSWPHS telephone survey. Although 98% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons had used telephones in the month prior to the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey (NATSISS) interview, landline phone ownership still remains low (71% in non-remote and 40% remote) compared to the general public; however, mobile phone ownership is becoming more common (more than 90% in non-remote and more than 80% remote). 9 Expanding the NSWPHS sampling frame, as planned in 2012, to include mobile phones could potentially increase access to young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men and improve the accuracy of the estimates for alcohol and smoking.