Citation

Poulos RG, Hayen A, Chong SS, Finch CF. Burns 2009; 356(3): 417-424.

Affiliation

The School of Public Health and Community Medicine, The University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.burns.2008.08.001

PMID

18952382

Abstract

Burns are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in children. Although industrialized countries have achieved significant declines in deaths and hospitalizations for these injuries in recent decades, the benefits have not been shared equally by children across all socioeconomic groups. We used Bayesian methods to map posterior expected relative risks, as an estimate of smoothed hospital separation ratios for fire and burns in children, across local government areas in New South Wales, Australia. The geographic pattern of relative risk varied by age group; higher than average risks were observed for children residing in rural and remote areas, as well as in scattered local government areas closer to the coast and in some metropolitan regions. Mapping the occurrence of injury gives injury practitioners the opportunity to identify high risk communities for further investigation of risk factors and implementation of targeted interventions within a defined area.

Language: en