Indigenous and non-indigenous Australian children hospitalised for burn injuries: A population data linkage study

Objective: To investigate differences in the characteristics of burn injuries leading to hospitalisation of Indigenous Australian and non-Indigenous children in New South Wales. Design, setting: Population-based cohort analysis of linked hospital and mortality data for 2000e2014. Participants: 35 749 Indigenous and 1 088 938 non-Indigenous children aged 0e13 years. Main outcome measures: The external cause of the injury, its anatomic location, total body surface area affected (%TBSA), burn depth, length of hospital stay (LOS). Results: 4246 non-Indigenous and 323 Indigenous children were hospitalised for a first burn injury during 2000e2014. A higher proportion of Indigenous than non-Indigenous children were admitted with burns affectingmore than 10%TBSA (17%v 12%) and a lower proportion of Indigenous children than of non- Indigenous children were treated at a hospital with a paediatric tertiary referral burn unit (40%v 50%; P < 0.001). The mean LOS during the indexadmissionwas almost 3 days longer for Indigenous children than for non-Indigenous children (6.1 days [95%CI, 4.8e7.4 days] v 3.4 days [95%CI, 3.2e3.7 days]; P < 0.001); the difference in LOSwas still statistically significant after adjusting for characteristics of the burn and residential location. Conclusion: The proportion of Indigenous children with burns who presented with burn injuries affecting more than 10% TBSA was greater than for non-Indigenous children. Their mean LOS was also longer; the difference remained statistically significant after adjusting for characteristics of the burn and of residential location.