Differentials in hospital admission rates for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population in New South Wales

Abstract

The indigenous Australian population is well known to have higher rates of morbidityand mortality than the rest of the Australian population. The study reported in thispaper demonstrates the use of hospital admission data from New South Wales tomonitor the health circumstances and the main areas of differentials of the indigenouspopulation in relation to access to primary health care services. The study covers theperiod from 1989 to 1995. In providing a statistical approach to analysing largeroutine databases, the major results have been to provide estimates of the hospitaladmission rates by residential area, sex and age of patient, and to highlight the maindifferences.