Trends in the annual prevalence of hospitalisation for remote Indigenous communities in Queensland, 1997/98 to 2004/05

Abstract

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% Cl ‐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% Cl ‐6.8% ‐ ‐5.4%) and for injury (‐7.3%; 95% Cl ‐8.1% ‐ ‐6.5%). However, there were increases for chronic diseases such as ischaemic heart disease (2.5%; 95% Cl 0.2% ‐ 4.9%), diabetes (2.5%; 95% Cl 0.5% ‐ 4.5%) and renal failure (6.8%, 95% Cl 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.