Trends in road injury hospitalisation rates for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in Western Australia, 1971–97

Abstract

Objective: To examine trends in road injury hospitalisation rates for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in Western Australia. Methods: Data from the Western Australian Hospital Morbidity Data System for the years between 1971 and 1997 were analysed. Poisson regression models were fitted to determine whether the trends were significant. Results: The rate of hospitalisation due to road injury for Aboriginal people (719.1 per 100 000 population per year) over the time period examined was almost twice as high as that for non-Aboriginal people (363.4 per 100 000 population per year). Overall, the results showed that while hospitalisations from road injury involving non-Aboriginal people have been decreasing by 6.7% per three year period since 1971, the rates of hospitalisation for Aboriginal people have been increasing by 2.6% per three year period. Both of these trends were statistically significant. The alarming increasing trend observed for Aboriginal people was more pronounced in males, those aged 0-14 years and over 45 years, and for those living in rural areas. Conclusions: As the rates of road injury for Aboriginal people are higher than for non-Aboriginal people, and are also following an increasing trend, road safety issues involving Aboriginal people need to be addressed urgently by health and transport authorities. R oad injury is a major public health problem and is particularly the case for road injuries involving Aboriginal people in Western Australia who have much higher rates of road injury when compared with non-Aboriginal people.

Characteristics and circumstances of injuries vary with ethnicity of different population groups living in the same country

“…Comparison between EBI and FSUBI demonstrated greater risk of violence-related injury hospitalization among EBI. The results are consistent with numerous studies that found higher risk of violence and intentional injuries among ethnic minorities compared to the general population (Abdel-Rahman, Siman-Tov, and Peleg 2013;Cercarelli and Knuiman 2002;Chatman et al 1991;Cubbin and Smith 2002;Demetriades et al 1998;Farchi et al 2005;Friedman and Forst 2008;Goral et al 2006;Johnson, Sullivan, and Grossman 1999;Rozenfeld and Peleg 2009;Sampson, Morenoff, and Raudenbush 2005;Savitsky et al 2007;Stirbu et al 2006; The Gertner Institute for Epidemiology and Health policy research 2011; WHO 2008; WHO Europe 2009). The different compositions of socioeconomic characteristics between the ethnic groups may possibly explain these observed inequalities in violence injury.…”

Inequalities in unintentional injuries between indigenous and non-indigenous children: a systematic review

“…Of the 39 studies included in the review, 21 were from the USA,2 7 19 24 – 41 8 from Australia,4 8 42 – 47 7 from Canada3 5 48 – 52 and 3 from New Zealand 6 17 53. More than half the studies (n=23) presented mortality data,2 5 7 19 24 26 – 28 30 31 34 – 38 40 41 45 46 48 49 51 52 with the remainder investigating mortality and morbidity (n=8),3 6 8 39 42 47 53 54 morbidity only (n=7)4 17 29 33 43 44 50 and Years of Potential Life Lost (n=1) 25. All studies investigating morbidity outcomes were based on hospital data, the terms, morbidity and hospitalisation, are therefore used interchangeably hereafter.…”

“…Of these 29 studies 24 reported results for all land transport and MVC injuries combined, whereas the remainder investigated more specific causes of transport injuries. For all transport injuries combined, rate ratios of hospitalisation, and mortality between indigenous and non-indigenous children ranged from 0.8 to 4.03 4 8 32 33 42 43 47 50 53 and 1.6–5.9,2 5 7 8 24 34 38 40 42 45 46 49 51 – 53 respectively. Almost all studies showed higher rates of hospitalisation and death from transport injuries in indigenous compared with non-indigenous children.…”

“…Cultural alienation and dispossession,15 low socioeconomic status5 16 – 18 and geographical remoteness2 4 11 16 19 have been discussed as key factors contributing to the higher burden of injury among indigenous children. However much of the evidence on low socioeconomic status and geographical remoteness stems from population-level studies and is not specific to indigenous children.…”

A socio-ecological model for unintentional injuries in minorities: a case study of Arab Israeli children

“…For example, injury incidence rates among indigenous people, such as Indians and Alaska natives, in the USA and Aboriginals in Australia (Berger, 2002;Cercarelli & Knuiman, 2002;Quinlan et al, 1998) are higher than among the majority population. Hayes and Groner (2005) calculated the risk of African-American children being injured and found that they were 7.7 more times likely to sustain a burn or gunshot injury and seven times more likely to be struck by a car than children in the majority population.…”