High rates of hospitalised burn injury in Indigenous children living in remote areas: a population data linkage study

Burns are a leading cause of child morbidity and mortality in Australia.1, 2 Previous studies have shown that Indigenous children and children living in rural and remote areas are disproportionally affected by burn injuries.3, 4 A much larger proportion of Indigenous (5.1%) compared with nonIndigenous (0.5%) children live in remote areas.5 However, to our knowledge, it has not yet been explored if living in remote areas impacts differently on the risk of burn injury in Indigenous compared with nonIndigenous children. This level of information is important to inform if burn injury prevention measures specifically targeted at Indigenous children in remote areas are needed.