Multilevel modelling of hospitalisations for recurrent diarrhoeal disease in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal infants and young children in Western Australia

A multilevel proportional hazards model was used to determine the prognostic factors affecting hospitalisations for recurrent diarrhoeal disease in infants and young children. All infants born in 1996 who had index gastroenteritis admission to Western Australian (WA) hospitals during their first yea...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Lee, Andy, Gracey, Michael, Yau, K.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Blackwell Scientific Publications 2005
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/10887
_version_ 1848747657173925888
author Lee, Andy
Gracey, Michael
Yau, K.
author_facet Lee, Andy
Gracey, Michael
Yau, K.
author_sort Lee, Andy
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description A multilevel proportional hazards model was used to determine the prognostic factors affecting hospitalisations for recurrent diarrhoeal disease in infants and young children. All infants born in 1996 who had index gastroenteritis admission to Western Australian (WA) hospitals during their first year of life were included in our study cohort (n = 486). There were 618 hospital admissions for infectious diarrhoea over the 6-year follow-up period. Aboriginal children stayed significantly longer in hospital than their non-Aboriginal peers, and comorbidities such as dehydration, gastrointestinal sugar intolerance, failure to thrive, iron deficiency anaemia and certain infections (genitourinary, scabies and/or otitis media) were all significantly associated with the delayed discharge of patients. Substantial variations among patients (variance = 0.660) and between health service regions of WA (variance = 0.296) were found. Over 30% of the total variation could be attributed to the heterogeneity between health districts. For any two patients in the same health district, the within-region (intraclass) correlation was estimated to be 0.309.In the absence of detailed socio-demographic data, application of the standard survival procedure may lead to incorrect inferences due to regional clustering and repeated observations on individuals. By accounting for latent patient and regional effects, the multilevel analysis clearly confirmed the high burden of infectious diarrhoea among Aboriginal infants and children, and their much longer hospital stays. Coexisting morbidities contributed to the prolonged and recurrent hospitalisations. Findings of this epidemiological study indicated the need of multifaceted clinical disease prevention and hygiene promotion strategies to control the disease.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T06:52:38Z
format Journal Article
id curtin-20.500.11937-10887
institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T06:52:38Z
publishDate 2005
publisher Blackwell Scientific Publications
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling curtin-20.500.11937-108872018-09-25T02:04:18Z Multilevel modelling of hospitalisations for recurrent diarrhoeal disease in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal infants and young children in Western Australia Lee, Andy Gracey, Michael Yau, K. A multilevel proportional hazards model was used to determine the prognostic factors affecting hospitalisations for recurrent diarrhoeal disease in infants and young children. All infants born in 1996 who had index gastroenteritis admission to Western Australian (WA) hospitals during their first year of life were included in our study cohort (n = 486). There were 618 hospital admissions for infectious diarrhoea over the 6-year follow-up period. Aboriginal children stayed significantly longer in hospital than their non-Aboriginal peers, and comorbidities such as dehydration, gastrointestinal sugar intolerance, failure to thrive, iron deficiency anaemia and certain infections (genitourinary, scabies and/or otitis media) were all significantly associated with the delayed discharge of patients. Substantial variations among patients (variance = 0.660) and between health service regions of WA (variance = 0.296) were found. Over 30% of the total variation could be attributed to the heterogeneity between health districts. For any two patients in the same health district, the within-region (intraclass) correlation was estimated to be 0.309.In the absence of detailed socio-demographic data, application of the standard survival procedure may lead to incorrect inferences due to regional clustering and repeated observations on individuals. By accounting for latent patient and regional effects, the multilevel analysis clearly confirmed the high burden of infectious diarrhoea among Aboriginal infants and children, and their much longer hospital stays. Coexisting morbidities contributed to the prolonged and recurrent hospitalisations. Findings of this epidemiological study indicated the need of multifaceted clinical disease prevention and hygiene promotion strategies to control the disease. 2005 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/10887 10.1111/j.1365-3016.2005.00638.x Blackwell Scientific Publications restricted
spellingShingle Lee, Andy
Gracey, Michael
Yau, K.
Multilevel modelling of hospitalisations for recurrent diarrhoeal disease in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal infants and young children in Western Australia
title Multilevel modelling of hospitalisations for recurrent diarrhoeal disease in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal infants and young children in Western Australia
title_full Multilevel modelling of hospitalisations for recurrent diarrhoeal disease in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal infants and young children in Western Australia
title_fullStr Multilevel modelling of hospitalisations for recurrent diarrhoeal disease in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal infants and young children in Western Australia
title_full_unstemmed Multilevel modelling of hospitalisations for recurrent diarrhoeal disease in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal infants and young children in Western Australia
title_short Multilevel modelling of hospitalisations for recurrent diarrhoeal disease in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal infants and young children in Western Australia
title_sort multilevel modelling of hospitalisations for recurrent diarrhoeal disease in aboriginal and non-aboriginal infants and young children in western australia
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/10887